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Friday, May 30, 1997

Grand jury to probe Marine's shooting of teen

REDFORD, Texas (AP) - The military anticipated that a grand jury would investigate the fatal shooting of a teen-ager by a Marine on a drug patrol, a spokeswoman said Thursday, calling the probe a standard procedure.

Albert Valadez, district attorney for Presidio County and several surrounding counties, said his request for a grand jury inquiry doesn't necessarily mean he believes any crimes were committed.

"I take all homicides before a grand jury. If it's not a natural death, it goes to the grand jury," Valadez was quoted as saying in Thursday's San Angelo Standard-Times.

"We were expecting that," said Maureen Bossch, spokeswoman for Joint Task Force Six, a federal agency that coordinates anti-drug operations involving the military and civilian law enforcement officials.

Ezequiel Hernandez Jr., 18, a high school student from Redford, was killed May 20 when he came upon four Marines participating in a JTF Six mission to watch suspected drug routes for the Border Patrol.

Military officials say Hernandez fired two shots at the Marines and had raised his .22-caliber rifle to fire a third when the non-commissioned officer in charge shot back with an M-16 and killed the teen-ager.

Hernandez's family lives a short distance from where Hernandez was shot. Relatives say they only heard a single blast that was too loud to come from a .22-caliber rifle.

Local and federal officials are investigating.

Valadez said the grand jury could hear the case in about a month, after his office receives all forensics reports from the Bexar County medical examiner's office in San Antonio.

Hernandez's body was taken there for an autopsy, and weapons involved in the incident were sent there for examination, he said.

Meantime, residents in Redford, some 200 miles southeast of El Paso, and neighboring Presidio are rallying around Hernandez's family.

Presidio County Justice of the Peace Dan Bodine said county officials had delivered nearly $2,000 in donations to the family on Wednesday.

"The people here in town just seem to want to do something," said Bodine. "So we raised a little money to help them with expenses during this time." Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
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