The US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the US District Attorney’s Office (USDAO) have recently declined to charge Border Patrol agents for the fatal shooting of Raymond Mattia, a member of the Tohono O’odham Nation, according to announcements by tribal leadership.
The decision has been vehemently criticized by the Tohono O’odham Nation Chairman Verlon M. Jose and the Tohono O’odham Nation Chairwoman Carla L. Johnson, who described the DOJ’s determination not to press charges as a “travesty of justice.” They said in a statement:
“There are countless questions left unanswered by this decision. As a result, we cannot and will not accept the US Attorney’s decision. On the contrary, we stand by the Mattia family, and all the 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.”
In response to the criticism, USDAO officials addressed the controversy in a statement to The Intercept. They explained their decision concluding that the agents’ use of force under the situation did not rise to the level of a federal criminal civil rights violation or a criminal violation under Arizona law.
The fatal shooting of Raymond Mattia occurred on May 18 on Tohono O’odham tribal land. Body camera footage, 911 audio and radio interactions between Border Patrol agents were examined. Despite allegations that Mattia, when confronted, threw a sheathed machete towards the officers, video evidence seems to show that he was actually unarmed when the officers started firing. An allegation suggests at least three officers discharged their weapons, and the subsequent autopsy report confirmed that Mattia was shot nine times.
It appears that incidents of police brutality are difficult to effectively monitor in the US. Still, 2016 data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) suggests that indigenous people constituted 11% of deaths resulting from police brutality between 2009 and 2012. This percentage is significantly higher than the overall indigenous population in the US, which is roughly 2.6% according to the 2021 US Census.