Probe of fatal border shooting is put on hold

WASHINGTON (AP) After meeting with Attorney General Janet
Reno, the head of a House immigration panel decided Tuesday
to delay his inquiry into the fatal shooting of a West Texas
teenager by a Marine on an antidrug patrol.

Rep. Lamar Smith, RSan Antonio, issued a statement Tuesday
night saying he was postponing the hearing he had set for
Thursday to probe Border Patrol lapses that might have
played a role in the May death of 18yearold Esequiel
Hernandez Jr.

Federal prosecutors announced last month that they were
looking into possible civil rights violations in the youth's
death. Smith decided to postpone his hearing because the
Justice Department civilrights investigation will not be
complete by Thursday.

Hernandez was killed after crossing paths with a fourman
Marine unit assigned to watch a suspected drug smuggling
route at the request of the Border Patrol in Redford, 200
miles southeast of El Paso.

The youth, armed with a .22caliber rifle, was shot as he
tended his goat herd near his family's home. The military
says Hernandez was shot only after he fired on the soldiers.
His family and others contend the youth, who sometimes used
the rifle for target practice, may not have known he was
shooting at the Marines, who were in full camouflage.