Autopsy: Plainclothes Border Patrol agent fired gun 10 times at Unarmed Latino Woman

From [HERE] A Border Patrol agent in Southern California who shot and killed a Latino mother of five after she allegedly hit him with her vehicle fired his gun 10 times from the hood of her car as he tried to get the woman to stop, according to an autopsy report released Thursday.

Valeria "Munique" Tachiquin Alvarado, 32, suffered 14 gunshot wounds to her upper body, the San Diego County Medical Examiner said. Some bullets may have caused more than one wound. The autopsy determined the Sept. 28 death was a homicide and lists multiple gunshot wounds as the cause.

Alvarado left a friend's apartment in Chula Vista when agents came with an arrest warrant for someone else, according to the autopsy, mirroring previous statements from police.  At the time she left the apartment she had not committed any crime, she was not the subject of the warrant, not under investigation and there was otherwise no legal basis for police to stop, detain or block her in. As such, she was within her rights to leave. 

According to police, who are investigating themselves about the incident, a group of plainclothes agents went to an apartment on Moss Street near Oaklawn Avenue shortly before 1 p.m. with an arrest warrant for a felon who had been previously deported and had a history of drug charges. Alvarado was one of several people inside the apartment when four of the agents approached and identified themselves as law enforcement, Wedge said.

She replied that the man they wanted was in the shower in back, then she brushed past the agents and walked toward her car, Wedge said. The agents alerted two other agents who were guarding the perimeter of the apartment, and they tried to stop her (for what lawful purpose?) as she got into her Honda. She allegedly struck one of them with the car as she started to pull away, police said. 

The agent, who wore a badge on his belt, told her she was under arrest for vehicular assault, while a second agent with a badge around his neck smashed the driver’s side window and tried to remove the keys, Wedge said. Alvarado struck the first agent again, driving west on Moss with him on her hood, investigators said.

Witnesses told police that she was going about 25 mph, and at one point drove through oncoming traffic while attempting to pass another vehicle. Witnesses said the agent appeared scared and yelled “Stop.”

After driving about 200 yards, she made a turning maneuver near Oaklawn. It was at that time that a witness told police the agent drew his weapon and fired multiple rounds through the windshield, Wedge said. [MORE] 

Alvarado's blood tested positive for methamphetamine at 0.1 milligram per liter. The officer's urine was not tested. 

Alvarado's family has filed a wrongful death claim against the Border Patrol, saying the agent who fired had a long history of misconduct in a previous law enforcement job and should not have been on the street. Documents released by family attorney Eugene Iredale say the agent, 34-year-old Justin Tackett, was suspended four times for misconduct including crashing a patrol car and violating suspects' rights in the nearly four years that he worked as an Imperial County sheriff's deputy. 

A Border Patrol official said on the day of the shooting that the agent feared for his life. The National Border Patrol Council, the union representing agents, has said it is confident he acted properly. Apparently all the officers invoiced were white men. 

The Border Patrol has been involved in a series of deadly shootings along the U.S. border with Mexico, and the Homeland Security Department's inspector general is reviewing the agency's policies on use of lethal force. The ACLU Regional Center for Border Rights says agents have killed at least 18 people since 2010.