SBI REPORT SAYS MAN DIDN'T SEE MARSHAL

CHAPEL HILL -- An SBI report on the shooting of a Hispanic man in a Chapel
Hill restaurant parking lot in March indicates the victim had no idea that
the U.S. deputy marshal who shot him was approaching his vehicle until a
bullet shattered the window of his Jeep and entered his leg.

On Monday, an Orange County grand jury decided not to indict the marshal,
Christopher William Sweeney, on the charge of assault with a deadly weapon
inflicting serious injury. The jury heard testimony from the SBI agent who
investigated the incident and an SBI ballistics expert.

Normally, SBI reports are confidential unless the district attorney who
receives the report chooses to release it. After checking the N.C.
statutes, District Attorney Carl Fox released the report Tuesday.

Sweeney said he believed the man who drove into the La Hacienda restaurant
parking lot at 8:55 p.m. March 12 was a fugitive wanted by the Drug
Enforcement Administration. He said he shot Uriel Aguilar Martinez because
he thought Martinez had a gun in his hand and was opening the door of the
vehicle.

In his statement, Martinez said his wife had just given him $200 to pay a
restaurant employee for photographs that the employee had taken of the 15th
birthday party of Martinez's daughter. Martinez was turning to open the
door of his Jeep Cherokee when he heard a loud noise.

"The next thing he knew the glass from the driver's side window was flying
everywhere, and he feels a pain in his left thigh," the SBI report states.
"Martinez stated he then opened the door but was met by two men who pulled
him out of the car and laid him face down on the ground."

A series of coincidences apparently led to the shooting. Sweeney was
working with High Point police officer Dean Bowman and Greensboro police
officer Clarence Schoolfield. Both officers are members of the N.C. Middle
District Violent Fugitive Task Force, and Sweeney had previously worked
with them on other cases.

The task force was trying to find a man who had been indicted by the DEA
for conspiracy to distribute more than 5 kilos of cocaine. Sweeney received
information that the man was going to meet someone at the restaurant
because the man owed the person some money. The information said the
fugitive has been known to drive a blue Jeep Cherokee and that he would
arrive around 8 p.m.

Sweeney and the officers took positions around the restaurant to watch for
the man, and just before 9 p.m., Sweeney saw a blue Jeep Cherokee enter the
parking lot and pull into a parking space. It was misty and dark, and the
windows of the Jeep were tinted.

Sweeney said he couldn't tell who was in the Jeep and that the driver
turned off the headlights and the engine after pulling into the parking
space. No one got out of the vehicle immediately. Sweeney, who was driving
an unmarked Isuzu Rodeo, pulled in behind the Jeep at an angle.

With a Glock .22 in his hand, he approached the Jeep as the other two
officers pulled up in their unmarked Dodge Durango near the Jeep. Although
the vehicles were equipped with interior blue lights, they were not flashing.

The other officers both reported hearing a shot but didn't know who fired
the shot until later. They said they didn't see exactly what happened
because they were getting out of their car and had taken their eyes off
Sweeney at the moment the shot was fired.

Sweeney and the other officers were wearing street clothes but had vests on
that read "Police" or "Agent" on them.

Sweeney reported he yelled, "Police, don't move!" as he approached the blue
Jeep, and as he did, the door swung open.

He "believed that he saw the driver of the Jeep turn toward him in a
threatening manner," the SBI report states. "Sweeney believed that he saw a
gun in the driver's right hand as it came over the steering wheel."

Sweeney, who stands 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 258 pounds, fired one
shot that hit the bottom corner of the driver's side window and entered
Martinez's thigh about three inches above the knee. He and Bowman, the High
Point officer, then pulled Martinez out of the Jeep, put him on the ground
face down and handcuffed him.

Sweeney realized almost immediately that Martinez was not the man they were
looking for. But the officers did not immediately realize that Martinez had
been shot in the leg.

Martinez and his family told a different version of what happened. Earlier
in the evening, Martinez, his wife and their two teen-age children had
driven from Durham to St. Thomas More Catholic Church because the children
were taking confirmation classes there. After the classes, the family then
drove to La Hacienda where Martinez was going to pay for and pick up some
photographs that an employee at the restaurant had taken at his daughter's
birthday party.

When Martinez pulled into the parking space, he didn't notice a vehicle
behind him. He turned on the dome light and turned to his wife. She counted
out the money and handed it to her husband.

Martinez stated he was reaching for the door handle when the window
shattered and he felt the pain in his thigh.

"Martinez stated he thought he was being robbed and that his family was
being assaulted," the report states. "He did not realize it was the police
until after he was on the ground and he saw the blue lights from the police
cars that arrived after the shooting."

His wife and children told similar stories when they were interviewed
during the early morning hours the next day. Possibly the dome light was
on, and they couldn't see outside.

No one realized that someone, much less a law enforcement officer, had
pulled up behind them and that he was approaching the vehicle on foot. They
did not hear or see anyone until after the shot was fired.

"They were just sitting in the car and all of the sudden the driver's
window was shot out and the father was pulled from the car," the report states.

Martinez said he never opened the door of his Jeep and that he hadn't
touched the handle yet when the shot shattered the window, blasting glass
on him and his wife.

A ballistics expert said that for the shot to have hit the window and
Martinez's thigh at the angle it did, the door was either closed or open 4
inches or less when the shot was fired.

The teen-age son and daughter both reported hearing Sweeney say afterward,
"It slipped" or "It slipped out."

Meanwhile, on the other side of the car, Schoolfield, the Greensboro
officer, held a gun on Martinez's wife as she tried to get out of the Jeep
to help her husband. He ordered her back inside.

However, once the scene was under control, and the officers realized what
happened, the family was allowed to get out and move around.

Sweeney stated he believed the Jeep belonged to the fugitive because:

- -- It matched the description of the vehicle the fugitive might be driving.

- -- The person arrived late, but the information on the fugitive was that he
always was late.

- -- The driver did not immediately get out of the Jeep, which made Sweeney
believe the driver was going to sit there and wait for the person he was
meeting.

The license plate also was personalized with the name Uriela, and Sweeney
thought that was a woman's name. The fugitive often registered his vehicles
in women's names.

The SBI report did not draw any conclusions as to whether Sweeney used
deadly force in an appropriate manner. That was left to the grand jury,
which chose not to indict him.