An Arizona resident near the U.S.-Mexico border who family members said had had called to report migrants crossing his property was shot 38 times and killed by a Border Patrol agent, the Arizona Republic and KVOA report. The shooting happened in the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector, which has the highest number of use-of-force incidents across the agency, with 158 incidents reported so far in fiscal year 2023, according to Customs and Border Protection data. The shooting on May 18 of Raymond Mattia is under investigation by the FBI and the Tohono O’odham Nation Police Department. Mattia was a member of the Tohono O'odham Nation.
Mattia was 2 feet from his front door when he was shot, family members told KVOA. Mattia had called the Border Patrol because he saw multiple migrants trespassing in his yard and he wanted help getting them off his property, they said. Ophelia Rivas, a lifelong family friend of Mattia's, called him law-abiding. "He was not an aggressive kind of man, he was not violent," she said, adding, "He was an artist, a ceremony person, a traditional hunter, he's a traditional singer. He was always kind to his family and taking care of them however he could." In March, a Border Patrol agent shot and killed a U.S. citizen near Sasabe, Ariz., after a vehicle chase. The shooting was ruled a homicide by the Pima County Medical Examiner's Office. The shooting is under review by CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility.
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