Officials condemn Border Patrol shooting of Mexican teen

Mexican officials and human rights groups are condemning the fatal shooting of a teenager suspected of throwing rocks at U.S. Border Patrol agents, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez, 16, was killed this week by agents after they ordered a group of youths near downtown Nogales, Mexico, to stop throwing rocks, according to U.S. officials.

Rodriguez, a suspected drug smuggler, died at the scene, nearby Arizona, from several bullet wounds, according to Mexican authorities.

Under Border Patrol guidelines, answering rock attacks with bullets can be regarded as justifiable use of force in part because rocks have inflicted serious injuries on agents.

However, some have increasingly criticized the frequency of such incidents and what they call a lack of transparency in follow-up investigations, the Los Angeles Times reports.

"The disproportionate use of lethal force in the exercise of immigration control functions is unacceptable under any circumstances," the Mexican Ministry of Exterior Relations said in a statement. "These kinds of acts, especially because they are recurring, have been rejected by Mexican society and all of the country's political powers."

Wednesday's confrontation began when several suspects were seen carrying marijuana into Arizona, according to U.S. authorities.

Agents responded and sent the men fleeing back into Mexico.The agents then came under attack by rock throwers and ordered them to stop, U.S. authorities said.

"They didn't cease and agents discharged their weapons," said Victor Brabble, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The FBI and Mexican authorities, who interviewed witnesses, have both launched investigations into Rodriguez's death.

Such investigations rarely lead to prosecutions of agents and typically conclude that they acted in self-defense, according to the paper.

Alberto Jose Rodriguez, spokesman for the state human rights commission in Sonora, called the shooting discriminatory. "There were 14 shots," he said. "They treated him like an animal, completely violating his human rights."