Mexico Border Patrol Shooting: Holder Calls Teen's Death 'Extremely Regrettable'

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric Holder says the fatal shooting of a Mexican teenager by a U.S. Border Patrol agent on the banks of the Rio Grande was "extremely regrettable."

The attorney general told reporters Thursday that the FBI is investigating the shooting of 15-year-old Sergio Adrian Hernandez Huereka on Monday beside a railroad bridge connecting Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, and El Paso, Texas. Holder says the agency also is investigating the death of Anastasio Hernandez, who died Saturday after a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer shocked him with a stun gun at a border crossing near San Diego.

The two deaths have caused outrage in Mexico.

Holder says that Mexico and the U.S. have shared interests and "that is what will continue to keep this relationship strong."

Comments

[dhinds]

05:51 PM on 06/12/2010

Regret is an appropriate beginning but fulfills only a small part of the responsibility the USA has for this murder.

[citizen1787]

05:35 PM on 06/12/2010

#4 There needs to be and obviously will be a full investigation of this incident.

[guffman]

09:35 PM on 06/12/2010

#5 Try telling the judge that your reasons for killing someone with a bullet to the head are #1, #2 and #3.

[citizen1787]

06:07 PM on 06/13/2010

I doubt they will have to explain the potential lethality of rocks to the judge. Anyone who has a basic understanding of human history knows that humanity killed off nearly all of the giant land based mammals on earth during the stone age.

[citizen1787]

05:33 PM on 06/12/2010

#1 This 15 year-old was a coyote with a criminal record.
http://www.ktsm.com/news/criminal-background-of-dead-teen-from-juarez

#2 Humans have been using rocks to kill since before recoded history.
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/08/13/stone-tools.html

#3 A rock can do more damage than a baseball and although they can't be thrown as accurately they can be thrown just as hard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxVm-ySggik

[barefoot2626]

09:37 PM on 06/12/2010

He helped bring people from Mexico to US to find jobs. He did not come across the border and shoot 19 people.

But it doesn't matter if he did: he was gunned down by an over zealous cop who lost his temper and fired bullets at group of kids.

If he does not go to jail, he will at least lose his job. Maybe you can offer him a position working in your local middle school. Let me know, I'll take out insurance on all smart-asses.

[citizen1787]

03:05 PM on 06/13/2010

"He helped bring people from Mexico to US to find jobs. He did not come across the border and shoot 19 people."

Have you read his full criminal record from the US and Mexico? I have not, perhaps he wasn't an angel, maybe he was.

[barefoot2626]

09:39 PM on 06/12/2010

PS: nice "rock".

The kid in the video didn't die, it wasn't a rock, and the ball was thrown from ten foot away.

[citizen1787]

03:06 PM on 06/13/2010

The video is an example what a baseball thrown by someone roughly the same age can do. Also, baseball are softer and have less mass than most rocks the same size.

[citizen1787]

06:16 PM on 06/13/2010

I'm sorry I don't have a graphics arts department that can make a video that is a perfect representation of what happened.

"#3 A rock can do more damage than a baseball and although they can't be thrown as accurately they can be thrown just as hard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxVm-ySggik"

If a baseball can knock someone down, so can a rock a roughly the same size. Or do you think being hit by a rock is like being hit by a snowball or water balloon?

[ChangeurMind]

02:39 PM on 06/12/2010

It's also "regrettable" that you are Attorney General.

[ChangeurMind]

02:37 PM on 06/12/2010

I wasn't expecting Holder to uphold the law anyway. He and Obama seem to have the same philosophy. Less is more.

[guffman]

03:59 PM on 06/12/2010

By "less", do you mean "less than shooting someone in the face"?

[regularguynyc]

02:20 PM on 06/12/2010

When will Holder, Obama, Pelosi, Reid, etc.. realize that situations like this will be avoided if they do their jobs and secure the American borders...The Hindsight of the administration is amazing and their present "sight" is downright criminal...

[barefoot2626]

02:57 PM on 06/12/2010

Yes, I remember it well, there were no Mexicans sneaking across the border when George Bush was in office, I tell you what!

[regularguynyc]

05:31 PM on 06/12/2010

What is the lefts pre-occupation with George Bush?!?!? Do you people have to continually look to the past for your justifications? Remember, when Bush tried to pass amnesty the conservatives slapped him down hard, we were never big fans of his border or spending policies either. Now with that said, has the CURRENT POTUS said or done anything constructive to help remedy this situation going forward?!?!? I didn't think so....Like I said before "downright criminal"...

[fleur-de-lys]

06:04 AM on 06/17/2010

hahaha that's what YOU think. there were hundreds of thousands sneaking across when geo bush was in office! just go to Texas/ Arizona and ask around. lalaland....

[dhinds]

06:06 PM on 06/12/2010

You're ignoring the fact the the boy was on his OWN side of the border and had not attempted to cross. I would agree that Mexicans or any other nationality, even expatriot Americans like me, should think twice about going to or ever going close to the USA - unless justice is served.

I energetically CONDEMN this wanton disregard for the value of human life and attempted cover up via the pretext of rock throwing.

BS. The USA will prosecute the killer or suffer the consequences losing the little credibility it has left in the world at large.

(I'm aware that some of you don't care - yet).

And that is the worst of it. There are more like the killer out there.

I condemn the lot.

[regularguynyc]

06:35 PM on 06/12/2010

I'm not ignoring any facts. Since I was not there, I am going by what a trained, American law enforcement official and his witnesses are stating. I'm sure a thorough investigation will bring the facts to light and right now I am making the assumption of innocence on the part of this police officer. Was are you so quick to condemn your own people over the words of others? Where you there? Do you believe the Mexicans running across the boarder are more credible than our own Police force? Do you really believe our Boarder Patrol Agents just like to kill people without provocation?

[RitaLouise]

12:28 PM on 06/12/2010

Isn't it a bit of hypocrisy when thousands are being murdered in their own country in an out of control drug "war" to bash the US for the loss of life of one teenager? And the media buys it and sucks it up! Drug rehab facilities are being targeted, mass graves uncovered, this is just politics as usual.

[barefoot2626]

09:52 PM on 06/12/2010

Not at all hypocritical.

Cops shoot an unarmed boy in the eye from what looks like at least 50 feet away.

That is a story.

If you want to have someone protect you from stories like this, stick to the 700 Club. You won't find the truth there, but maybe at least you will not get upset.

[hey0there]

11:10 PM on 06/11/2010

At least they had the sense not to trot out Napolitano for a statement this time.

[TheBaffler]

10:00 PM on 06/11/2010

What a mealy-mouthed comment. It's homicide. Loosing your cool and killing someone for throwing rocks is murder.

[hrpmap]

10:17 PM on 06/11/2010

What a mealy-mouthed comment. The right of self defense is established law in America. A rock, a knife, a ball bat, they are all deadly weapons.

[TheBaffler]

10:21 PM on 06/11/2010

Sell it somewhere else, righty. Stones thrown from a kid several yards away aren't deadly.

[TheBaffler]

10:20 PM on 06/11/2010

"Losing," not "loosing." Argh.

[mwaca]

08:23 PM on 06/11/2010

The other guy who died was also a criminal, and on crystal meth when he was zapped with the tazer, that's why he is dead.

[barefoot2626]

01:54 PM on 06/12/2010

There is no death penalty for being on meth (regardless of whether or not the aspersion is true).

He is dead because he was tazered. If a purse snatcher pushes an old lady down on the sidewalk and she has a stroke and dies, the cause of death is not old age, the purse snatcher can be charged with murder. Principle of law, be my guest, look it up.

[citizen1787]

05:53 PM on 06/12/2010

Except that possessing and consuming meth is a crime. If the guy was actually on meth.

If he just had a heart condition then your example would be dead-on.

[mwaca]

08:20 PM on 06/11/2010

What's regrettable is that our A.G. wont stand up to drug smugglers, illegal aliens, and terrorists what a waste of space. If this little punk didn't want to get shot he should have not thrown rocks at armed officers. Maybe the rest of them will learn a lesson from this.

[guffman]

01:06 AM on 06/12/2010

They'll learn to hate America and to bring more than rocks.

[Jon Dorian]

08:45 AM on 06/12/2010

"They'll learn to hate America and to bring more than rocks."

Apparently, they brought rocks the first time; that was before anyone was shot.

I'm more concerned about America's security than other nations liking us. Force is a deterrent; and appeasement is an invitation to violence.

[fleur-de-lys]

05:57 AM on 06/17/2010

while i think there should have been a massive publicity campaign geared towards warning mexicans, your statement about them learning from this is probably true. Not the best way to go about it, but the net effect would no doubt be, a very rude awakening. and yes there will be some backlash, mexis being the aggressive self- serving, self-pitying "entitled" jerks that they often are-- but, it will indeed serve as some rather nasty education. ( i speak as one who has known many from south of the border).

[hrpmap]

07:58 PM on 06/11/2010

What is truely regretable is that he is as much a part of the violence on that border as the drug runners. He is the AG and should have worked for the American people and at least started the process of controlling the southern border. The situation that exists because people like him refuse to do their jobs will only get worse. Holder, you are joke to make such statements, do your job and things like this will stop happenning, get real.

[barefoot2626]

09:46 PM on 06/12/2010

Right. Mexicans have been coming over the border since they were feeding Americans during WWII. That's seventy years. Holder is an administrator and it isn't his job to stop immigration. The people squawking about illegal immigrants have done the least about it: US Congress, and you can go back at least thirty years to hear that. Don't blame either party, both have had majorities, and the Republicans had majorities AND a Republican president.

[fleur-de-lys]

05:48 AM on 06/17/2010

since the attitudes are changing about the border, then the mexican citizenry should be made well-informed of the intent of the usa to stop them using lethal force. it isn't fair to use that kind of force, when we probably haven't done a good job of publicizing the possibility. So the dumb young kids think it's just a prank when in reality it's their life at stake. Bad relations, bad leadership.

[Allen Alexander]

07:25 PM on 06/11/2010

Thank you for your prudent comments. More of our political leaders should be making conciliatory statements like this. There is no way rocks should equal shooting death. We as a nation need to be very public with these kinds of comments to let our neighbors and the world know that we regret this incident and are not like the Israelis.

[TetonJumper]

09:35 PM on 06/11/2010

We all need to make conciliatory comments about convicted felons, especially drug runners. Maybe the AG needs to remember he is supposed to be on the side of law enforcement. This guy is a joke.

[hrpmap]

10:19 PM on 06/11/2010

And that includes foreignors who are here illegally should be deported, but he backs them by his actions.

[barefoot2626]

03:01 PM on 06/12/2010

What the heck? Why bother having trials at all? Cops are never wrong! Why waste all that money on judges and prisons when we can allow cops to start executing any and all lawbreakers?

[Pandaforum]

07:21 PM on 06/11/2010

What's really regrettable is all the Americans killed by illegal aliens.

[TheBaffler]

10:03 PM on 06/11/2010

Which is negligible, but thanks for trying to stir up some hateful anti-immigrant sentiment.

[hrpmap]

10:32 PM on 06/11/2010

So you think Americans being murdered by illegal aleins is no big deal? Tell that to their families, but from a distance. http://www.city-data.com/forum/illegal-immigration/51230-wasted-lives-4-380-americans-murdered.html

[Pandaforum]

10:32 PM on 06/11/2010

over 20 per day, equally murdered and killed by drunken drivers. doesn't seem to neglible to me.

[barefoot2626]

02:17 PM on 06/12/2010

The most common murder in America is a husband shooting his wife.

[1USONE]

07:07 PM on 06/11/2010

(CNN) -- The 15-year-old Mexican youth who was shot and killed by a Border Patrol agent had a history of involvement with human smuggling and was on a list of repeat juvenile offenders, U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Mark Qualia told CNN Thursday.

The victim, Sergio Adrian Hernandez Guereca, had been apprehended by U.S. officials on more than one occassion but was never criminally charged, Qualia said.

The use of juveniles to smuggle people across the border is a common tactic for smugglers, he said.

[Allen Alexander]

07:31 PM on 06/11/2010

Stop trying to rationalize a terrible act. I don't care if he was smuggling drugs, rocks do not equal deadly retaliation period. There needs to be a criminal investigation and a trial based on the evidence. That gun happy border guard needs to be extradited to Mexico for trial.

[1USONE]

07:39 PM on 06/11/2010

Extradited to Mexico?

[hrpmap]

08:27 PM on 06/11/2010

A rock isn't a dangerous life threating weapon? Rock hits mouth teeth nocked out surgery required, hits eye, loss of sight surgery required, hits nose broken nose surgery required, hits temple possilbe death, funeral required. Anyone who comes after me with a rock better hope I don't have a gun.