Bodycam footage released in fatal Border Patrol shooting of Tohono O'odham man

Raymond Mattia had tossed a sheathed machete in front of a Tohono O’odham Nation Police Department officer as Border Patrol agents and a police officer approached, and moments before he was shot and killed.

A cellphone and its case could be seen lying on the ground near Mattia after he was shot. Agents repeatedly asked if anyone found a firearm on Mattia as they were searching and handcuffing him.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection released body camera footage on Thursday of the fatal May 18 Border Patrol shooting of a member of the Tohono O’odham Nation.

The video release comes more than a month after three agents from the Ajo Border Patrol Station shot and killed Mattia, 58, outside of his home in the Menagers Dam Village of the Tohono O'odham Nation. Agents shot Mattia several times after he took his hand out of his jacket pocket while he was holding something.

Agents told Mattia to get his hands out of his pockets before they began shooting. Agents shot Mattia through and over a rudimentary fence made out of sticks and barbed wire, which separated the agents from Mattia and his house behind him.

One agent said Mattia still had a gun in his hand as they approached him lying face down on the ground. Moans could be heard coming from Mattia in the video after he was shot.

Agents repeatedly yelled at Mattia to put his hands out, even as he didn’t appear to be moving.

“Put your hands out, bro. You’re gonna get shot again,” one agent yelled at Mattia in the video as he was approaching him.

The footage released shows video from four agent-worn body cameras, despite the shooting being captured by 10 total cameras.

It remains unclear exactly how many times Mattia was shot. A Border Patrol agent in the video estimates that Matia was shot four to five times as the agent is on the phone with medical personnel.

CBP did not clarify how many times Mattia was shot when reached for comment on Thursday. The agency had no further comment on the video’s release.

Mattia’s sister, Annette Mattia, previously told The Arizona Republic that she had spoken to her brother on the phone seconds before she heard the gunfire. Migrants had come to Mattia’s door earlier in the day, and he eventually called the authorities, though it wasn’t clear if he called Border Patrol, according to Annette Mattia.