Texas guardsman suspended after wounding man in cross-border taking pictures, Mexico’s president says

EL PASO, Texas — A Texas National Guard soldier has been suspended after he shot and wounded a person on the opposite aspect of the U.S. southern border final week, Mexico’s president mentioned Thursday.

Calling the taking pictures “a violation of international law,” President Andrés Manuel López Obrador mentioned he obtained a report on the soldier’s suspension, with out specifying which company it got here from.

The soldier says he shot the Mexican man in protection of a migrant who the person was allegedly in search of to hurt, and the soldier fired first into the air, López Obrador mentioned at a information convention.

A special account of Saturday’s taking pictures was given by Enrique Rodriguez, a spokesperson with the Chihuahua state prosecutor’s workplace, who says the 22-year-old Mexican man was shot whereas jogging. The man was hospitalized with a gunshot wound to the buttocks and has since been launched, Rodriguez mentioned.

The Texas Department of Public Safety has confirmed it’s investigating the taking pictures in Ciudad Juarez, throughout the Rio Grande River from El Paso. But the company didn’t instantly reply to an message in search of remark Thursday on the soldier’s suspension, nor did the Texas Military Department.

The Department of Public Safety oversees Operation Lone Star, which has deployed state assets and members of the Texas National Guard to the border since March 2021. The mission has drawn criticism over its value, technique and effectiveness.

The taking pictures is being investigated by Mexican and U.S. federal authorities and the Department of Public Safety. The Texas Rangers met with high diplomats from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday to debate the soldier’s suspension, based on an announcement from the ministry.

It’s not the primary time a nationwide guardsman fired alongside the border this 12 months. In January, a migrant was shot and wounded in a wrestle with a member of the Texas National Guard, who was attempting to detain him.

Few particulars about that taking pictures have been shared on the time and issues have been raised over the dearth of transparency.

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