OPEN GRAND JURY HEARING SOUGHT IN SHOOTING DEATH

A Latino civil rights group Friday called for an open grand jury hearing
into Tuesday's fatal shooting of an unarmed man by a state drug agent who
mistook him for a dangerous fugitive parolee.

``The concern is that it could have been anybody who looked like him,'' said
Danny Garza, associate president of the Mexican American Political
Association. ``It could have been me -- I used to have a mustache and black
hair, too. We shouldn't be afraid of being in the wrong place at the wrong
time.''

Garza said he had not spoken with the family of Rodolfo ``Rudy'' Cardenas, a
43-year-old father of five who was shot by a state Bureau of Narcotic
Enforcement agent who was assisting an attempt to arrest fugitive parolee
David Gonzales, 37, at a 14th Street duplex.

The state Attorney General's Office said Cardenas pulled up to the home in a
van and sped away. Agents reported that he matched Gonzales' description and
chased him to a downtown alley, where he was shot while running away. Police
said the agent, whom the attorney general has refused to identify, believed
Cardenas was about to shoot him with an object that appeared to be a weapon.

The district attorney's office said this week that a decision on opening the
grand jury hearing would not be made until after San Jose police submit
reports of their investigation next week. The last such open hearing was
over the fatal shooting of a Vietnamese mother by a San Jose police officer
last summer.