Slain Latino immigrant's family files suit Against Hunter who Shot him
Friday, April 22, 2005 at 03:30PM
TheSpook
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]
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