Friday, May 24, 2019

ACLU-TX Filed A Federal Lawsuit Seeking $100M In Damages Against U.S. Border Customs Laredo Sector Claiming "unknown agent" (identified by HNNUSA as Border Patrol Agent Romualdo Barrera) Fatally Shot Unarmed Guatemalan Immigrant Claudia Patricia Gómez González

The ACLU-TX has filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Border Customs Laredo Sector claiming that Border Patrol Agent Romualdo Barrera who has not been officially named in the lawsuit fatally shot Guatemalan immigrant Claudia Patricia Gómez González after crossing the border at the Rio Bravo vicinity in 2018.

By H. Nelson Goodson
Hispanic News Network U.S.A.

May 24, 2019

Laredo, Texas - On Thursday, the ACLU-TX filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Border Customs Laredo Sector including Border Patrol Agent Romualdo Barrera who has not been officially named, but has been identified as the agent that fatally shot Guatemalan immigrant Claudia Patricia Gómez González, 20, after crossing the border into the U.S. at the Rio Bravo vicinity on May 23, 2018. The lawsuit was filed by the ACLU-TX on behalf of Gilberto Gómez Vicente and Lidia González Vasquez, the parents of deceased Claudia Patricia Gómez González claiming $100M in damages. In the lawsuit filed by ACLU-TX and Kirkland & Ellis LLP, they claimed that Gómez González posed no threat to Border Patrol Agent Barrera and she was not carrying any type of weapon or anything that would be perceived as a weapon when she was killed.
Agent Barrera is named as "unknown agent" in the lawsuit. Hispanic News Network U.S.A. (HNNUSA) has named Agent Barrera as the Border Patrol unknown agent who fatally shot Gómez González in cold blood, but he hasn't been charged with her murder by the FBI who took over the death investigation in 2018.
A year has passed and the FBI including the U.S. Customs and Border Protection have yet to determine, if U.S. Border Patrol Agent Barrera committed cold blooded murder when he fatally shot Gómez González, as she ran in the heavy bush from him near the U.S. border in the Rio Bravo vicinity. Gómez González originally from San Juan Ostuncalco, Guatemala was fatally shot in the head by a U.S. Border Patrol Agent Barrera in Rio Bravo, which is about 13 miles South of Laredo in Webb County. Barrera is a 15-year veteran for the CBP. Agent Barrera in 2018 after killing Gómez González hired George Altgelt, a Laredo local attorney to represent him while the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Texas Rangers continued to investigate Gómez González's death.
Agent Barrera's name had been circulating in multiple Laredo protests organized by local immigrant right groups seeking justice for Gómez González.


Update: A federal lawsuit was filed on May 12, 2020 against U.S. Border Patrol Agent Romualdo Barrera who allegedly committed a criminal act and others claiming a wrongful death by using excessive force that claimed the life of Claudia Patricia Gómez González age 20 in Rio Bravo, Texas near Laredo on May 23, 2018. Lawsuit (17-page, PDF) link: https://bit.ly/3ip4iAz 

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