Undocumented Immigrant Shot By U.S. Border Patrol Agent Identified as Claudia Patricia Gomez Gonzales, age 20, of Guatemalan

By: Miguel Munoz, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2018

According to Guatemalan news sources, the 20 year old female Claudia Patricia Gomez Gonzales was shot in the head by a 15 year veteran of the United States Border Patrol on Wednesday, May 23, 2018, in Rio Bravo, Texas, near the U.S.-Mexico Border just south of Laredo as she was attempting to enter the United States to seek work in order to continue her education in forensic accounting.

The U.S. Border Patrol Agent responded alone to the service call on the Border Patrol radio at approximately 12:20 P.M. in Rio Bravo, Texas when he encountered a group of undocumented immigrants and allegedly ordered them to lie down on the ground, but the group rushed or attacked the agent and he took out his service-issued firearm and fired one shot into the group and striking Claudia Patricia Gomez Gonzales in the head and who died at the scene of the incident.

The fatal incident is under investigation by the Texas Rangers, the FBI, the U.S. Border Patrol, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.  The Border Patrol Agent has been placed on administrative leave pending the investigation.

The U.S. Border Patrol arrested three undocumented immigrants from the group, but most fled the scene of the incident fearing for their lives from the U.S. Border Patrol.

Texas civil rights groups and foreign consular officials have criticized the U.S. Border Patrol Agent’s alleged excessive use of deadly force in the incident, causing the death of Claudia Patricia Gomez Gonzales.