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| Raymond Mattia |
Tohono O'odham Police Vendetta Revealed in Murder of Raymond Mattia
By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Dec. 21, 2023
The vendetta of a Tohono O'odham Nation police officer is revealed by attorneys for the family of Raymond Mattia, Tohono O'odham, who was murdered when Tohono O'odham police and U.S. Border Patrol agents fired 38 shots at him, striking him with nine bullets, in front of his home.
“I don’t know exactly where that motherfucker is at," a Tohono O'odham Nation police officer told U.S. Border Patrol agents as they met shortly before Raymond was murdered.
The statement was revealed by the family's attorneys. The Tohono O'odham Nation police department refuses to release the officer's name. Neither the U.S. Border Patrol, nor the Tohono O'odham Nation Police Department, have released all of the officer body cam recordings of Raymond's murder. Only an edited portion has been released to the public.
Federal prosecutors are now part of the cover-up and refuse to file charges against the officer and agents who fired the shots at Raymond, murdering him in front of his home in Ali Jegk, less than a mile north of the border, on May 18, 2023.
U.S. Department of Justice employees met with the family in Sells to discuss their decision but refused to provide the family with details about what happened that night.
During a series of interviews between 2011 and 2013, on the border in Raymond's community, Ali Jegk, Raymond told Censored News that he videotaped U.S. Border Patrol agents escorting Mexican cartels bringing drug loads across the border. When Raymond submitted the evidence, it vanished.
The new details of Raymond's murder are stated by attorneys for his family in a letter, which notified the Customs and Border Patrol of the family's intent to file a wrongful death lawsuit.
It reveals that Raymond never acted aggressively.
All five of Raymond's siblings and his two children are represented by the law firms of McKenzie Scott and Stitt Vu Trial Lawyers APC.
The family's attorneys said in the letter to Customs and Border Patrol:
"An unknown group of CBP agents met at the Menengers Dam Recreation Center and prepared to look for the alleged subject of the call to police that reported the shots fired."
"The TOPD officer present informed the CBP agents 'I don’t know exactly where that motherfucker is at' and then the agents deployed in an aggressive manner to find the alleged suspect.
"At no point does the body camera footage show the officers overhearing shots fired or any signs of distress from any residents."
"Contrary to the objective lack of urgency and imminent harm to anyone, the CBP agents acted aggressively and eventually approached Raymond Mattia’s home. Agents ordered Mr. Mattia out of his house and he walked out of the front of his home carrying a sheathed hunting knife. When directed by the CBP agents, he tossed the knife toward them in a non-threatening and compliant manner."
"The CBP agents responded to Mr. Mattia’s compliant and non-threatening behavior by acting in a highly aggressive fashion and drew their weapons. Throughout the encounter, Mr. Mattia was compliant and standing in front of his house, with plenty of space between himself and the officers. Use of force policy demands that agents seek to de-escalate interactions by seeking space and time between people."
"There was abundant space and time in the agents’ interaction with Mr. Mattia, and the agents violated their use of force policy when they unnecessarily escalated the encounter at every turn. Consistent with Mr. Mattia’s compliance, when CBP agents ordered him to take his hand out of his pocket, he complied."
"The video shows Mr. Mattia holding his cellular phone in his hand. Despite being unarmed and compliant, the agents fired approximately 38 shots, which struck and killed Mr. Mattia. The medical examiner’s report is attached and leaves no doubt that his cause of death was gunshot wounds inflicted by CBP agents," the attorneys' letter states.
"Mr. Mattia’s five siblings and two children seek justice for his wrongful death. Mr. Mattia was a loved and valued member of his community. He was a talented artist, storyteller, and a loving father to his children and family. Further, Mr. Mattia was a respected member of his community and the Tohono O’odham Nation Chairman and Vice Chairwoman released a statement in which they stated that their 'hearts and prayers remain with Raymond Mattia’s family and friends during this incredibly difficult time.”
The family's attorneys said Customs and Border Patrol's unjustified killing of Mr. Mattia violated Arizona assault, battery and wrongful death laws, and the agents’ actions further violated the United States Constitution by using excessive force, improperly seizing him by ordering him out of his home and pointing guns at him without cause.
Ali Jegk is located on the western portion of the Tohono O'odham Nation, bombarded by militarization and U.S. Border Patrol attacks on O'odham. U.S. Border Patrol agents from the nearby border town of Ajo, Arizona, were among the agents present when Raymond was murdered.
The U.S. Border Patrol receives live feed from the Israeli-made surveillance tower at Menagers Dam. Elbit Systems, a defense contractor in Israel, obtained the contract from the U.S. government. The elected Tohono O'odham Nation government approved the construction, over the objections of the traditional Tohono O'odham.
"The United States government military forces, the border patrol, have not been forthcoming with impact information, such as health effects and have deliberately misinformed the people regarding the immediate environmental impacts such as the roads they will build on the mountain and installation of electrical power lines to the sites as well as that these proposed tower sites will have a 25-year or longer impact on the mountain, the animal and plant life and the O'odham lives."
"The Gu-Vo District communities landscape have already been greatly impacted by numerous unauthorized roads and destruction of our mountains and hills of great significance to the O'odham way of life. Our future generations will face more restrictions to live on our original lands as our rights as original Indigenous peoples continue to deteriorate."
"These U.S. proposed towers also are not on the border but in our communities and on the border of the Tohono O'odham Nation reiterating discrimination and deliberate attack on the O'odham," said Gu-Vo District.
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