Eddie Seal for The New York Times
Protesters at a news conference and prayer vigil Thursday near the site in Texas where two Guatemalan immigrants were killed.
LA JOYA, Tex. ? As a red pickup truck believed to be carrying drugs raced down a rural road near this border town last month, a state police helicopter that joined the pursuit warned units on the ground to keep their distance.
?Going to try to shoot one of the tires out,? a member of the helicopter crew announced, in radio communications broadcast by the television station KRGV. ?We have a clear spot.?
An officer with a high-powered rifle in the helicopter opened fire, but after the truck came to a stop, the authorities discovered that the sharpshooter had made a tragic mistake. The truck?s cargo was not drugs but people. Illegal immigrants from Guatemala being smuggled across the border had been hiding in the bed of the truck, covered by a dark blanket. Two of them were killed by the sharpshooter from the state?s top law enforcement agency, the Department of Public Safety.
Agency officials said they would not discuss many details, citing a continuing investigation, but they said the officer had been trying to disable the truck by aiming for the tires. They defended his actions by saying that the vehicle was driving at reckless speeds in an area near schoolchildren.
Still, the shooting has outraged civil liberties groups, immigrant advocates and Guatemalan diplomats.
?One has to think that our law enforcement agencies have no respect for human life,? said Terri T. Burke, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas. ?I don?t care what was in that truck. If they weren?t shooting at that helicopter, how in God?s name can you justify firing on what appears to be unarmed folks??
On Thursday, Ms. Burke and others gathered at an intersection near the shooting, amid dusty farmland nine miles from the border. They demanded justice for the two men killed, Jose Leonardo Coj Cumar, 32, and Marcos Antonio Castro Estrada, 29. Both were from the town of San Mart?n Jilotepeque. Mr. Coj, a father of three, was hoping to pay for arm surgery for his 11-year-old son, Guatemalan officials said. Mr. Castro had two daughters and a wife who is three months pregnant.
?They need to provide the basic things for their families in Guatemala, and that?s why they?re coming here,? said Alba D. Caceres, the head of the Guatemalan Consulate in nearby McAllen. ?Six kids, they don?t have fathers, so that is a sad history.?
The state police agency allows its officers to fire on vehicles during pursuits, whether the officers are seated in helicopters or cars or standing on a highway overpass. They can shoot to disable a vehicle, to defend themselves or others from death or serious injury, or to apprehend those suspected of using or trying to use deadly force, according to the agency?s general manual.
The policy sets Texas apart from other states, where firing at vehicles is rarely allowed, or forbidden. The Arizona Department of Public Safety does not allow its officers to shoot from moving vehicles or from helicopters. The California Highway Patrol permits firing on vehicles, but only to stop a threat and not to disable a car, and it forbids officers to fire from a helicopter in flight. The Nevada Highway Patrol, which does not use helicopters, does not permit shooting at vehicles during pursuits. Federal border patrol agents are not allowed to fire solely to disable a vehicle.
Two members of the State House committee that oversees the Texas police agency, Representatives Lon Burnam and Armando Walle, have asked for a hearing on the policy. Ren? Guerra, the Hidalgo County district attorney, said he wanted the agency to end the practice of shooting at vehicles from helicopters.
?They need to look at their policy,? Mr. Guerra said. ?There?s several ways to disable vehicles. I think D.P.S. will be put through very close scrutiny as to whether this was the best available means.?
The episode began about 3 p.m. on Oct. 25, when two state game wardens on patrol in rural Hidalgo County tried to pull over a suspicious red pickup on an unpaved road, the authorities said. The driver refused to stop and sped away, and the game wardens radioed for assistance.
The helicopter reached the truck after game wardens pursued it for nearly seven miles. Department of Public Safety officials said in a statement that the vehicle had appeared to have a covered drug load and was going dangerously fast. Because it was heading toward two elementary schools and a middle school, the truck posed ?an immediate threat to the schoolchildren and motoring public,? officials said. The tactical flight officer who opened fire, Miguel Avila, shot the truck multiple times, but officials declined to say precisely how many rounds he had fired.
The Texas Rangers, a division of the Department of Public Safety, and the agency that oversees game wardens, the Parks and Wildlife Department, are investigating. In addition, state police officials requested that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the civil rights division of the Department of Justice conduct an independent investigation. Officer Avila has been reassigned to administrative duties pending the outcome of the investigation.
Col. Steve McCraw, the director of the Department of Public Safety, said in the statement that the agency was reviewing all related policies, but he cautioned against rushing to judgment. ?Although it is very tragic that two lives were lost, had the vehicle continued recklessly speeding through the school zone, any number of innocent bystanders or young lives could have been lost or suffered serious bodily injury,? he said.
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