State asks feds to probe deadly helicopter shootings

BROWNSVILLE - Texas state police on Friday asked federal agents to review the deaths of two Guatemalan immigrants, killed last week when a state trooper on a helicopter opened fire on a smuggling vehicle near La Joya.

The Texas Rangers will hand over their investigation to federal agents upon completion, according to Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw.

McCraw said he asked the FBI and Justice Department to conduct an independent investigation into the Oct. 25 shooting.

The two killed were among a group of nine Guatemalan immigrants in the truck, suspected of being in the country illegally and being smuggled through the Rio Grande Valley.

DPS officials said they believed the truck was smuggling drugs and the trooper shot at the vehicle to disable it.

McCraw's request Friday came after civil rights groups joined the local Guatemalan consul in decrying the incident and the ensuing investigation by Texas Rangers, an arm of the DPS.

"The Texas Rangers will turn over its completed investigation and evidence to the FBI and Justice Department, including the video and audiotapes of this incident," McCraw said.

Trooper's training

The statement came as the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education released records on the trooper, Miguel Avila. He has been with the agency more than 10 years. In the past two years, he completed dozens of hours of specialized training in aircraft operations, including 34 hours since October 2011. He did eight hours of tactical firearms training on May 22. The records showed no disciplinary actions.

Avila was put on administrative leave after the shooting. He returned on Thursday, reassigned to administrative duties pending the investigation.

Answers demanded

At least two lawmakers also want more answers.

In a letter dated Wednesday, two Democratic state legislators called for an emergency hearing on the DPS policy on firing on moving vehicles and the officer's conduct in the case.

"DPS is alone among the other law enforcement bodies in the Valley in allowing officers to fire upon a vehicle for the purpose of stopping it," wrote Reps. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, and Armando Walle, D-Houston.

Committee Chairman Sid Miller, R-Stephenville, said Friday he had spoken to McCraw and saw no need for a policy review.

"I can't find anyplace or anywhere protocol wasn't followed," Miller told the Associated Press on Friday. "It's unfortunate some people died, but I guess the lesson is: Don't be running from the law. So there will be no hearing."

The consul, McAllen-based Alba Caceres, reported that survivors said the DPS helicopter was flying low and that the blanket covering them had blown off, exposing them in the bed.

DPS spokesman Tom Vinger has said the agency had "irrefutable evidence" that the covering did not blow off the truck, making it appear to police to be a covered drug load. He has declined to elaborate on the nature of the evidence.

In a news release Thursday, the agency offered diagrams of the 14-mile pursuit and said that Avila discharged his weapon to stop a mid-afternoon chase as the vehicle headed toward nearby schools.

State park rangers called DPS after the driver of the fleeing red pickup refused to stop, despite being followed for more than 6 miles.

Marco Antonio Castro, 29, and Jose Leonardo Coj Cumar, 32, were killed. Seven others, who along with the deceased are from the city of San Martín Jilotepeque in Guatemala, have been detained.

Driver at large

The driver is believed to be a 14-year-old Mexican national. Border Patrol agents apprehended him in the hours after the chase, but juvenile authorities released him to a grandparent and he has since gone missing.

Civil rights groups and some federal lawmakers are questioning the use of deadly force during border-enforcement operations, which the American Civil Liberties Union on Thursday called a "disturbing trend."

Betty Perez, whose family owns a ranch near the shooting, said law enforcement presence seems to have increased in her area, about 10 miles north of the border.

"We don't see so many immigrants walking through like we used to, but we do see fast cars going north," she said. "In the past year, we've seen more chases."

lbrezosky@express-news.netjbuch@express-news.net