Witness recounts fatal Border Patrol shooting of young Guatemalan woman in Texas

The L.A. Times reports:

Marta Martinez was in her bedroom about a mile from the border in south Texas on Wednesday, preparing to attend her son's end-of-year award ceremony at school, when she heard a gunshot. She told her children to stay inside and rushed out to see a Border Patrol agent with a gun in his hand.

It was not unusual for Martinez, 39, born and raised in the area, to see agents chasing migrants who had crossed the border illegally. But this time, she said, she confronted a gruesome scene: outside her room, the body of a young woman lay bleeding on the ground, shot in the head.

"When I started to film and I saw the woman, I got mad, so I started shouting at the man," Martinez said.

The shooting in a residential area about 15 miles southeast of Laredo has stirred controversy from south Texas to Central America at a time when President Trump's administration has vowed to crack down on illegal immigration. U.S. Border Patrol officials initially said the agent fired after migrants attacked him, but backpedaled Friday as the victim's relatives in Guatemala, Martinez and other border-area residents called for a deeper investigation into the circumstances of the killing.

The agent, a 15-year veteran, was responding to a report of illegal activity near a culvert when he discovered migrants around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, the Border Patrol said in its initial statement. The statement said the agent fired after being attacked by migrants armed with "blunt objects," which officials described as "two-by-four" pieces of lumber. The agent then "fatally wounded one of the assailants," the statement said.

On Friday, the agency released a second statement saying the migrants "rushed" the officer after ignoring orders to get on the ground. The second statement did not mention blunt objects and called the gunshot victim a "member of the group." The agent, who has not been identified, was placed on administrative leave.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection canceled a news conference about the shooting Friday. An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment due to the ongoing investigation.

A dead illegal alien makes news. After all , she wasn't an "immigrant".