Steps in shooting of 18yearold near Rio Grande retraced

By JOHN W. GONZALEZ
Copyright 1997 Houston Chronicle

REDFORD State investigators endured 105degree heat along the
Rio Grande on Monday to retrace the movements of a military anti
drug unit and the Presidio High School student killed by a
patrolling Marine five weeks ago.

The sizzling weather was mild compared to the heat being put on
the civilian law enforcement agents to produce criminal charges
against the four U.S. Marines involved in the shooting death of
Ezequiel Hernandez.

"We're expecting murder indictments," said resident Enrique
Madrid, who said there was no way Hernandez intentionally would
have assaulted the Marines.

The fatal shot fired by Marine Cpl. Clemente Banuelos was
described by the military as an act of selfdefense. Military
investigators cited the soldiers' statements that Hernandez, who
was tending goats a few hundred yards from his home, had fired at
them twice with a .22caliber rifle and was about to fire a third
time when he was shot.

District Attorney Albert Valadez said it is still too early to
say what charges, if any, a Presidio County grand jury will be
asked to consider later this month in Marfa. A key piece of
evidence the bullet that killed Hernandez is still
undergoing ballistics tests in San Antonio and some subpoenaed
military documents have not been received, Valadez said,
describing the military's cooperation pace as "slow."

"We don't have enough information to go before a grand jury.
Until we get it, we're not going to go," the prosecutor said as
he looked over the parched riverside hills where the shooting
took place about 6 p.m. on May 20.

The prosecutor, based in Fort Stockton, and Texas Rangers from
Midland joined in the hourlong survey of the brushy shooting
scene. The group viewed a lowlying area near the muddy river
where Hernandez may have fired his rifle, prompting the Marines
to track Hernandez as he walked a quartermile uphill toward an
abandoned house.

The group then viewed the exposed rise where the Marines said
they hit the dirt believing Hernandez was aiming at them from the
hilltop. The investigators also saw where Hernandez was found
dying from a single gunshot wound. Police tape that marked the
scene, which is strewn with years of illegal dumping, has been
torn and moved by the scorching winds.

Autopsy results indicate Hernandez was felled by a bullet that
hit his right side, causing some officials and residents to
dispute the soldiers' selfdefense contention. Hernandez would
have been hit in the chest if he were positioned as the soldier
described him, the local coroner said last week.

But Valadez said he won't decide what recommendation to make to
the grand jury until he has seen more evidence.

"We've done as much as we can on our own," he said. "Now we're
waiting for the other people who are cooperating or who we've
asked to cooperate to fulfill their end of the investigation."

Valadez said the soldiers from Camp Pendleton, Calif., who were
camouflaged and carrying M16s during their foray, were
cooperative when interviewed by Texas Rangers on the day of the
shooting.

"I'm satisfied that the information they obtained (from the
Marines) that day was correct. Whether other people have
contradicted them is a matter of opinion," Valadez said.

Madrid, the Redford resident, said most of the 100 townsfolk are
convinced the killing was not justifiable. He said the incident
adds to longsimmering resentment about the border interdiction
efforts of the military's Joint Task Force6, based at El Paso's
Fort Bliss.

"If those Marines had used common sense and come out of the
bushes and asked anybody in town who this kid was, we would have
told them, `No, he's not a drug dealer. He's an 18yearold kid.
Leave him alone,' " Madrid said. "Instead of using common sense,
they killed an innocent man."