Group demands Texas chopper shooting investigation

LA JOYA, Texas (AP) — A civil rights group is demanding an independent investigation of the fatal shooting of two suspected illegal immigrants by a Texas state trooper from a helicopter.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas made its demand in a letter to Director Steve McCraw of the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Copies of the letter were released Thursday. It says, “If the facts as reported are true, this use of deadly force was illegal and unconstitutional.”

A trooper aboard a DPS helicopter fired at a fleeing truck in an effort to disable it on Oct. 25. Nine Guatemalan immigrants were hidden under a tarp in the pickup’s bed. Three were wounded, two fatally.

The letter demands an investigation by “an agency that is not under the umbrella of the Texas DPS.”