TEEN'S DEATH WAS ACCIDENTAL, FEDERAL AGENT SAYS

The fatal shooting Tuesday of a teen-age passenger in the car of a
drug suspect's vehicle that had been stopped to be searched was
accidental, a federal agent told homicide investigators.

Alvin Ray Onezine, 19, was a passenger in a car stopped by members of
the Gang Task Force, a team of officers from the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms and the Houston Police Department.

The team had warrants to search the car and the home of 23- year-old
Jerry Ealim, ATF spokeswoman Franceska Perot said.

Task force members blocked the vehicle Ealim was driving in the 5800
block of Jensen about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday and approached the vehicle on
foot.

As Ealim and Onezine were being secured, the weapon of ATF agent
Roland Ballesteros accidentally discharged, striking Onezine, police
said.

Onezine was taken to Ben Taub Hospital, where he died shortly after
arrival.

The second search warrant, for Ealim's home, was never served, Perot
said.

She said the task force was investigating a drug-trafficking gang when
the shooting occurred. It was unknown whether narcotics were found in
the car.

Ballesteros and other federal agents involved in the incident
initially refused to give statements to police, and were on the verge
of being arrested before they did so.

Perot said that was a matter of policy. ATF agents, she said, are not
allowed to give statements until they receive permission from
Washington, D.C., headquarters to do so.

"Unfortunately, that conflicts with the district attorney's policy,"
Perot said.

The shooting is being investigated by the Houston Police Department's
Homicide Division and the Harris County District Attorney's Office.

Police said Wednesday that evidence in the shooting will be presented
to a grand jury when the investigation is complete.

Perot said the death also will be investigated by an ATF shooting
review team.