Border Patrol agent indicted in 2012 fatal shooting

TUCSON — A Border Patrol agent charged with seconddegree murder in the death of a Mexican teen is one of only three agents to face murder charges in more than 20 years.

Lonnie Swartz was indicted Wednesday on one count of second-degree murder by a federal grand jury that reviewed the death of 16-year-old Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez, who was hit about 10 times by cross-border gunfire.

“It’s very rare for a Border Patrol agent to be charged criminally when the abuse or killing is on U.S. soil, said Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the Immigrants’ Rights Project for the American Civil Liberties Union.

In the case of a cross-border shooting with the victim on Mexican soil, the ACLU group did not know of any previous scenario in which a Border Patrol agent was indicted, Gelernt said.

Only two other agents have been charged with murder in killings of immigrants.

Nicholas Corbett was accused in the January 2007 death of Francisco Javier Dominguez Rivera. The case was dismissed after two trials resulted in hung juries.

Michael Elmer was charged with second-degree murder but acquitted after the 1992 shooting of Dario Miranda Valenzuela. Both cases took place in Arizona.

The Border Patrol has said Elena Rodriguez was among a group of rock throwers endangering agents’ lives. His family insists the boy was walking home from a basketball game with friends and was not armed or hurling rocks.

Luis Parra, the attorney for the boy’s mother, said the family was grateful to the Department of Justice “for this first step in the pursuit of justice,” and relatives “remain steadfast in their resolve to seek full transparency” from the Border Patrol.

Swartz’s attorney, Sean Chapman, did not respond to calls seeking comment. He told the Arizona Daily Star that he expects his client to plead not guilty at an Oct. 9 arraignment.

Swartz also faces a federal civil rights lawsuit in the death of the teen, who was in Nogales, Mexico, on Oct. 10, 2012, when Swartz fired from Nogales, Ariz.

The Border Patrol has used deadly force more than 40 times in rock-throwing incidents, resulting in 10 deaths.

The Mexican government said Thursday that it “welcomed” the decision to indict the agent.