Slain Latino immigrant's family files suit Against Hunter who Shot him

The family of an undocumented Mexican immigrant has filed an $8 million wrongful death lawsuit against the hunter who shot the man, mistaking him for a wild hog. The suit also names the owner of the small Rodriguez Ranch where Celestino Lopez, 36, was shot. Jaime Gonzalez fired at Lopez from about 150 feet as the immigrant stood in the darkness with 13 others headed north on Jan. 31, 2004, according to the lawsuit filed Monday in Eagle Pass. Lopez was struck in the abdomen after the immigrants, walking shoulder to shoulder in small groups, stopped near a canal when they saw a shadowy figure. Gonzalez, who told police he thought he was shooting at a hog, and two other hunters put Lopez in the back of a pickup and met an ambulance on the way to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The lawsuit alleges that Lopez's death was "reasonably foreseeable" by the shooter and that the landowner, Eduardo Rodriguez, and the "defendants had a legal and ethical duty not to shoot in poor light and not to shoot without verifying the target was in fact game." [more]