Leaders of the Tohono O’odham Nation say they “cannot and will not accept” federal prosecutors’ decision not to charge three Border Patrol agents who shot and killed a Tohono O’odham man in front of his home in May.
The lack of charges in the fatal shooting of Raymond Mattia is “a travesty of justice,” Tohono O’odham Nation Chairman Verlon M. Jose and Vice Chairwoman Carla L. Johnson said in a joint statement issued Friday.
“The facts speak for themselves, and they do not support the U.S. Attorney’s decision,” the tribal leaders said. “Where in America is it okay for law enforcement officials, or anyone else, to take an unarmed man’s life? We assume there is additional evidence beyond what is already in the public domain. At the very least there needs to be a trial so that the facts can be ascertained, and justice accomplished.”
After a criminal investigation, federal officials met with Mattia’s family in Sells in mid-September to advise them of the decision not to prosecute the agents who shot Mattia, 58. The Intercept first reported the decision on Wednesday.
In their statement, tribal leaders Jose and Johnson said there are “countless questions” remaining in light of prosecutors’ decision. The Nation’s executive office will explore options to “rectify this misguided decision,” including seeking a congressional inquiry into the case, they said.
“We cannot and will not accept the U.S. Attorney’s decision,” Jose and Johnson said. “We stand by the Mattia family, and all O’odham citizens in seeking justice. Members of the Tohono O’odham Nation should not have to worry that their lives could be randomly cut short by federal agents acting on Tohono O’odham sovereign land.”
Mattia died from multiple gunshot wounds, after 10 border agents and at least one Tohono O’odham tribal police officer came to his property the night of May 18. Immediately before agents opened fire, body-cam video released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection appeared to show Mattia reach into his jacket then quickly remove his hand in response to agents’ commands.
Mattia was unarmed at the time; moments earlier he had thrown a machete, still in its sheath, toward agents after they told him to put down what he was holding.
On Friday, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office said the office stands by the decision not to bring charges.
“We stand by our conclusion, and we hear the Chairman’s frustration,” Zachry Stoebe, public affairs officer for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona, said in a Friday emailed statement.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office sent a letter to Chairman Jose on Sept. 20, the statement said, “expressing condolences for the loss of the victim, describing the investigation and our conclusion, and also informing the Tohono O’odham Nation of the pending review by CBP’s National Use of Force Review Board.”
“We decline to comment more specifically on the meeting between the family and the department employees; victims have an inherent right to speak with the press, and to criticize their government,” the statement said.
The night Mattia was killed, tribal police had requested Border Patrol assistance in response to reports of gunfire in the area, according to CBP statements. Mattia’s family said Mattia had called law enforcement himself to report border-crossers on his property, which is in a remote village near the U.S.-Mexico border, about 140 miles from Tucson.
The family will likely file a civil lawsuit to get the answers that federal officials have refused to provide, Ryan Stitt, the San Diego-based attorney for the Mattia family, said Thursday.
The Tohono O’odham Nation’s tribal lands encompass both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona and tribal members say they, and their traditions, have suffered under the increasing militarization of federal border enforcement efforts.
“For too long, the U.S. government’s refusal to enact sensible border solutions has brought undue hardship to O’odham and other border communities,” Jose and Johnson’s statement said. “While politicians waste time debating walls and other ineffective and divisive ideas, our people are persecuted and, in this case, killed by federal agents. This must stop.”
WARNING: This video contains strong language and graphic content. Raymond Mattia, 58, was killed May 18 2023 in a shooting involving three U.S. Border Patrol agents. Video courtesy of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
