Relatives of killed immigrant seek damages
A federal judge is expected to rule Friday in a lawsuit filed against the U.S. government by the wife of a man killed by a Border Patrol agent.
Jose Alejandro Ortiz Castillo was shot by agent Brian Ernest Ault in August 2007. The shooting happened as Ortiz and three others tried to enter the United States illegally in El Paso.
Border Patrol officials told the El Paso Times then that Ault arrested one of the border-crossers and that Ortiz picked up a rock to assault him. They also said Ortiz had been arrested 28 times between 1999 and 2002 for illegal border crossings.
The wrongful death lawsuit calls the shooting unnecessary and unjustified. Calls to the U.S. attorney’s office and Ortiz’s widow’s lawyers weren’t returned Monday.
