Source:   Houston Chronicle
Contact:    Sat, 10 Jan 1998
Website: http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/

FBI COMPLETES PROBE OF FATAL SHOOTING OF BORDER TEEN BY MARINE

PECOS (AP) -- The FBI has completed its investigation into the fatal
shooting of a border teen-ager by a U.S. Marine and forwarded the case to
federal civil rights investigators, an FBI spokesman said Friday.

The Department of Justice is trying to determine whether there were any
civil rights violations during the May 20 shooting of Esequiel Hernandez
Jr. in Redford, a rural community about 200 miles southeast of El Paso.

"Unless the Department of Justice requires additional information, our
investigation is complete," said Terry Kincaid, agent in charge of the FBI
office in Midland.

Military officials say Cpl. Clemente Banuelos killed Hernandez after the
teen-ager began shooting at a four-man Marine team conducting anti-drug
surveillance along the Rio Grande.

A Presidio County grand jury last year cleared Banuelos and the other three
Marines of any wrongdoing in the case.

The Justice Department then stepped up its investigation and a federal
grand jury in Pecos began hearing from witnesses.

Daryl Fields, a U.S. Attorney's spokesman in San Antonio, declined to
comment on the case beyond saying the investigation was continuing.