Mexico anger high as U.S. Border Patrol kills teen

Mexicans are seething over the second death of a countryman at the hands of U.S. Border Patrol agents in two weeks, an incident near downtown El Paso that is threatening to escalate tensions over migrant issues.

U. S. authorities said Tuesday a Border Patrol agent was defending himself and colleagues when he fatally shot the 15-year-old as officers came under a barrage of big stones while trying to detain illegal immigrants on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande.

About 30 relat ives and friends gathered late Tuesday to mourn Se rgio Adr ian Hernandez Huereka, whose shooting Monday evening came along the border with Texas. He died on the Mexican side of the river.

"Damn them! Damn them!"

Sobbed Rosario Hernandez, sister of the dead teenager, at a wake in the family's two-room adobe house on the outskirts of Ciudad Juarez.

Preliminary reports on the incident indicated that U.S. officers on bicycle patrol "were assaulted with rocks by an unknown number of people," B o r d e r Pa t r o l S p e c i a l Operations Supervisor Ramiro Cordero said Tuesday.

"During the assault at least one agent discharged his firearm," he said. "The agent is currently on administrative leave. A thorough, multi-agency investigation is currently ongoing."

The shoot ing happened beneath a railroad bridge linking the two nations, and late Tue sday night a banne r appeared on the bridge that said in English: "U.S. Border Patrol we worry about the violence in Mex and murders and now you. Viva Mexico!"

Less than two weeks ago, Mexican migrant Anastasio Hernandez, 32, died after a Customs and Border Protection officer shocked him with a stun gun at the San Ysidro border crossing that separates San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico. The San Diego medical examiner's office ruled that death a homicide.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon said Tuesday that his government "wi l l use al l resources available to protect t h e r i g h t s o f Mex i c a n migrants."

The government "reiterates its rejection to the disproportionate use of force on the part on U.S. authorities on the border with Mexico," the president added in a statement.

On an unpaved street, gathered around Hernandez's gray metal casket, the teen's family called for justice.

"There is a God, so why would I want vengeance if no one will return him to me. They killed my little boy, and the only thing I ask is for the law" to be applied, said the boy's father, Jesus Hernandez.

His mother was less hopeful.

"May God forgive them because I know nothing will happen" to them, Ma r i a Gu a d a l u p e Huereka said.

Above the casket was a photo of the youth wearing his soccer uniform and his junior high school grade cards, which showed A's and B's.

His mother said he was a good student who never got in trouble. He was the youngest of five children, played on two soccer teams and had just finished junior high school, she said.

The case took a testy turn when U.S. and Mexican officials traded suggestions of misconduct in the incident.