FILE - In this June 22, 2012 file photo, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta speaks about suicide prevention at the annual Suicide Prevention Conference held by the Dept. of Defense and Veterans Administration, in Washington. Suicides in the U.S. military surged to a record 349 in 2012. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
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FILE - In this June 22, 2012 file photo, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta speaks about suicide prevention at the annual Suicide Prevention Conference held by the Dept. of Defense and Veterans Administration, in Washington. Suicides in the U.S. military surged to a record 349 in 2012. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
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FILE - In this Dec. 8, 2012, file photo, Malians demonstrate in favor of an international military intervention to regain control of the country's Islamist-controlled north, in Bamako, Mali. They carry signs that say 'That's enough, let the government work' right, and 'We Malians Demand Chapter 7,' center, referring to the chapter of the United Nations Charter which would be used to authorize international military intervention. The United States has its hands tied in confronting an uptick of threats from North Africa, the world’s newest jihadist hotspot. The spread of al-Qaida-linked militants across Libya, Algeria and Mali reflects a rise in local extremists who have been emboldened since the attack last Sept. 11 on a U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, (AP Photo/Harouna Traore)
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In this photo taken on Monday, Jan. 28, 2013, provided by the French Army Communications Audiovisual office (ECPAD) and released Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013, a French soldier walks near armored vehicles at the Timbuktu airport, north Mali. Backed by French helicopters and paratroopers, Malian soldiers entered the fabled city of Timbuktu on Monday after al-Qaida-linked militants who ruled the outpost by fear for nearly 10 months fled into the desert, setting fire to a library that held thousands of manuscripts dating to the Middle Ages. (AP Photo/French Army Communications Audiovisual office (ECPAD), Arnaud Roine)
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In this picture taken on Monday, Jan. 28, 2013, provided by the French Army Communications Audiovisual office (ECPAD) and released Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013, a French soldier, second from right, shakes hands with a resident of Timbuktu, north Mali. Backed by French helicopters and paratroopers, Malian soldiers entered the fabled city of Timbuktu on Monday after al-Qaida-linked militants who ruled the outpost by fear for nearly 10 months fled into the desert, setting fire to a library that held thousands of manuscripts dating to the Middle Ages.(AP Photo/French Army Communications Audiovisual office (ECPAD), Arnaud Roine)
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President Barack Obama listens in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, Jan. 7, 2013, where he announced that he is nominating Deputy National Security Adviser for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, John Brennan, center, as the new CIA director; and former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, right, as the new defense secretary.(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
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President Barack Obama and his choice for Defense Secretary, former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, left, listen as the president's choice for CIA Director, Deputy National Security Adviser for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, John Brennan, right, speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, Jan. 7, 2013, where the president made the announcement. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
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Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, speaks to reporters following a closed-door briefing on the investigation of the deadly Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012. An Accountability Review Board's report indicates serious bureaucratic mismanagement was responsible for the inadequate security at the mission in Benghazi where the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans were killed. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
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FILE - In this April 11, 2011, file photo, then U.S. envoy Chris Stevens attends meetings at the Tibesty Hotel where an African Union delegation was meeting with opposition leaders in Benghazi, Libya. An independent review board is set to reveal its findings on the Sept. 11 attack in Libya that killed a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans, a report the administration hopes will bolster its assertion that diplomats took all reasonable measures to anticipate and respond to the violence, and end months of finger-pointing and recriminations over whether the deaths could have been avoided. Diplomats and intelligence officers alike have testified to the rising risk in Benghazi and growing debate over how to improve security prior to the attack, set against Ambassadors Chris Stevens' decision to keep the Benghazi diplomatic post open and even visit there on Sept. 11. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)
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Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, pauses as he speaks to reporters following a closed-door briefing on the investigation of the deadly Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012. An Accountability Review Board's report indicates serious bureaucratic mismanagement was responsible for the inadequate security at the mission in Benghazi where the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans were killed. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
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FILE - This Dec. 3, 2012 file photo shows Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. The top contenders for the “big three” jobs in President Barack Obama’s Cabinet are white men, raising fresh concerns among Democratic women about diversity in the president’s inner-circle. Their long-simmering worries were rekindled after Susan Rice withdrew under pressure from consideration as the next secretary of state. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
Lawsuit filed on behalf of agents shot in Mexico
MCALLEN, Texas (
AP) — The family of a U.S. agent killed in a 2011 ambush on a Mexican highway and another agent who survived the attack on Tuesday sued the government and nearly two-dozen other defendants.
The federal lawsuit arises from the Feb. 15, 2011, attack on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents Jaime Zapata and Victor Avila. They were attacked in their armored sport-utility vehicle near San Luis Potosi, Mexico, shortly after picking up some equipment from another agent.
Zapata died and Avila was seriously wounded.
The lawsuit filed Tuesday names the agents' supervisors, the company that armored their vehicle and gun shops that allegedly sold two of the weapons used. It alleges that Zapata and Avila never should have been sent on the dangerous mission, their armored SUV was flawed and at least two of the guns used in the attack were bought in the United States and eventually smuggled to Mexico.
On Feb. 15, 2011, Zapata and Avila drove from Mexico City to San Luis Potosi to pick up equipment from another agent from the Monterrey office. Shortly after beginning their return trip the pair was ambushed by armed men. Zapata parked the vehicle, but when he did so the automatic door locks unlocked. Gunmen pried open the door and in their struggle to close it the agents partially lowered the window which allowed their attackers to fire inside.
Julian Zapata Espinoza is awaiting trial on murder and attempted murder charges in federal court in Washington, D.C. Zapata Espinoza was allegedly a member of the Zetas cartel who Mexican authorities say mistook the agents' Suburban for rivals.
Three weapons believed used in the attack have been recovered though information has only been released on two of them, according to federal court documents.
One was a 7.62 mm AK-47 style Draco handgun that federal authorities traced to a straw purchase by Otilio Osorio from a Texas gun shop. Osorio and his brother were sentenced to prison on weapons charges. Another was an AK-47-style semi-automatic assault rifle bought from JJ's Pawn Shop in Beaumont in another straw purchase and passed into Mexico by Manuel Barba, who has also been sentenced to prison.
Osorio, Barba and the pawn shop are among those named as defendants in the lawsuit.
In a procedural notice to the government filed last year, the agents' lawyers sought $25 million for Zapata's family and $12.5 million for Avila. No figures were included in the lawsuit filed Tuesday.
Tags:
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