WASHINGTON STATE – Police who shot and killed a man accused of hurling rocks at officers in southeastern Washington are drawing criticism from as far away as Mexico.
The death Tuesday of orchard worker Antonio Zambrano-Montes is the fourth fatal police shooting since last summer in Pasco, an agricultural city of 68,000 people about 215 miles southeast of Seattle. It has sparked protests after witnesses said he was running away when he was shot in a busy intersection.
Mexico’s Foreign Relations Department on Thursday condemned the shooting of the man raised in that country. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said he was monitoring the situation.
[…] Franklin County Coroner Dan Blasdel, whose office was conducting an autopsy on Zambrano-Montes, said he was considering convening an inquest jury to look into the death.
“We don’t want another Ferguson here in Pasco,” Blasdel told The Seattle Times, referring to the unrest that followed the Aug. 9 killing of an unarmed black man in Ferguson, Missouri, and a grand jury’s decision not to indict the white officer who shot him.
But the coroner says he won’t decide until the investigation wraps up.
“This was really not a racial issue,” Pasco Police Chief Bob Metzger told KING-TV of Seattle. The chief met for two hours with Zambrano-Montes’ relatives.
[…] Police say Zambrano-Montes’ threatening behavior led officers to open fire. The 35-year-old threw multiple rocks, hitting two officers, and refused to put down other stones. They say a stun gun failed to subdue him.
He had a run-in with Pasco police early last year, having been arrested for assault after throwing objects at officers and trying to grab an officer’s pistol, court records show.
[…] Zambrano-Montes was raised in Michoacan, Mexico, and has lived for about a decade in Pasco.
In its statement, Mexico’s Foreign Relations Department called the shooting one of the “events in which unwarranted use has been made of lethal force.”
The department said it was helping Zambrano-Montes’ family “with the aim of ensuring that all available legal avenues are explored and taken to their fullest extent.” (read more)
MEDIA REPORTS:
https://www.facebook.com/keprtv/photos/a.10150623902441183.497052.50735961182/10153031797266183/?type=1