Mexican Consulate Requests Inquiry in Broward Police Shooting of Mexican Man
Wednesday, November 17, 2004 at 03:47PM
TheSpook
The Mexican consulate has asked for an investigation into the shooting
of a Mexican citizen by a Broward County sheriff's deputy. The shooting
of German Gomez, 22, looked "like a real case of abuse of authority,
and it's devastating," David Kubiliun, a lawyer for the consulate in
Miami, said Thursday. Gomez, who was in critical condition at North
Broward Medical Center, was shot once in the head in the parking lot of
a Pompano Beach apartment complex Wednesday evening by a deputy
responding to a report of an attempted burglary. Gomez's family said he
and his cousin, Javier Dominguez, 21, who had both recently moved from
the southern Mexican province of Chiapas, mistakenly went to the wrong
apartment when they returned home from work.
After a deputy put him on the ground in the parking lot and handcuffed
him, Dominguez said he heard a gunshot, looked to Gomez and saw him
lying in blood. Dominguez "started crying when he saw his cousin," said
Joe Buchanan, a former assistant U.S. attorney who is part of the men's
legal team. "He started fearing for his own life." Dominguez said he
did not understand what the deputies were saying. Kubiliun said his
clients surrendered peacefully and that a language barrier between them
and the deputies may have been a factor in the shooting. [more] and [more]