Two years ago last week U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents Jaime Zapata and Victor Avila were attacked in their armored sport-utility vehicle near San Luis Potosi, Mexico, shortly after picking up some equipment from another agent. Zapata died and Avila was seriously wounded.
This week, the sister of Agent Zapata filed a lawsuit naming almost two dozen defendants, including the agents’ supervisors, the company that armored their vehicle and gun shops that allegedly sold two of the weapons used in the attack. The suit is filed with the hope that it will force the “government to answer their questions,” according to an AP report.
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The lawsuit was filed in federal court and seeks “accountability for those people to come forward and not let this happen again,” Magdalena Villalobos, Avila’s sister told an AP reporter.
The suit alleges that the area the agents were sent was known to be extremely dangerous and alleges negligence on the part of supervisors for putting the agents in harm’s way. The lawsuit says, that the road “was known to be patrolled and controlled by a dangerous criminal organization.”
Apparently the agents expressed reservations to the command, but Mexico supervisors “despite having full knowledge of the dangers present with the package pick-up, instructed Avila and Zapata to proceed with the directive,” alleges the lawsuit.