The Latest: Trial begins for Border Patrol agent in shooting

PHOENIX (AP) — The Latest on a Border Patrol agent’s trial in a fatal shooting (all times local):

11:30 a.m.

Jury selection is underway in the second-degree murder trial of a U.S. Border Patrol agent accused of shooting across the international boundary into Mexico and killing a teenager five years ago.

U.S. District Judge Raner Collins and attorneys on Tuesday began thinning a pool of 38 prospective jurors summoned to a courtroom in Tucson, Arizona, for the trial of Lonnie Swartz.

He’s accused of killing 16-year-old Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez. The teen was on the street in Nogales, in Mexico’s Sonora state, just across the border from Nogales, Arizona.

An autopsy showed the unarmed youth was hit 10 times, mostly from behind.

Swartz’s lawyers have said Elena Rodriguez threw rocks just before he was shot in an attempt to create a distraction for drug smugglers and that the officer was justified in using lethal force.

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12:05 a.m.

Prospective jurors have been called to federal court in Arizona for a rare second-degree murder trial of a U.S. Border Patrol agent accused of shooting across the international boundary into Mexico and killing a teenager five years ago.

Agent Lonnie Swartz is accused of killing 16-year-old Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez. The teen was on the street in Nogales, in Mexico’s Sonora state, just across the border from Nogales, Arizona.

An autopsy showed the unarmed youth was hit 10 times, mostly from behind.

Swartz’s lawyers have said Elena Rodriguez threw rocks just before he was shot in an attempt to create a distraction for drug smugglers and that the officer was justified in using lethal force.

Opponents of U.S. border policies are expected to rally outside the courthouse.

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