Trouble in the Tri-Cities

PASCO, Wash. (AP) - Officers involved in the investigation of a deadly police shooting in southeastern Washington pleaded with the public on Friday to not make a tense situation any worse.

"It's a stressful time for anybody who wears a badge," said Sgt. Ken Lattin of Kennewick Police, spokesman for a group of outside police agencies investigating the shooting Tuesday, in nearby Pasco, of a man accused of hurling rocks at officers.

At a news conference on Friday afternoon, Lattin said members of the public have a right to express their opinions on social media and to march peacefully in the town of Pasco, an agricultural city of 68,000 people about 215 miles southeast of Seattle.

Lattin stressed repeatedly that people need to be respectful of other points of view and of each other. He also cautioned against making a decision about the death based purely on a video seen on the Internet.

"Our Constitution allows people to gather and protest. That is perfectly OK," Lattin said of a march planned for today. "Be respectful of others, their person, their property."

The shooting death of orchard worker Antonio Zambrano-Montes is the fourth fatal police shooting in Pasco since last summer. It has sparked protests after witnesses said he was running away when he was shot in a busy intersection.

Zambrano-Montes was raised in Michoacan, Mexico, and has lived about a decade in Pasco, where more than half of the residents are Hispanic.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Friday reiterated his country's "condemnation of the disproportionate use of lethal force" by members of the Pasco police against a Mexican citizen.

"I have directed the secretary of foreign relations to support his family so they feel the backing and support of the government of Mexico, so they don't feel alone and so there is a close monitoring of the investigation into this regrettable and outrageous occurrence," he said at a gathering of members of the foreign diplomatic corps in Mexico City.

Zambrano-Montes was not armed with either a gun or a knife, Lattin confirmed at the news conference, but whether he had a rock in his hand when he was shot is still under investigation. Zambrano-Montes died from gunshot wounds to the torso, according to a coroner's report released Friday.

Franklin County Coroner Dan Blasdel said he was considering convening an inquest jury to look into the death.

Detectives are gathering dash-cam video, evidence from the scene, citizen video and police equipment and will be interviewing at least 40 witnesses.

Police say Zambrano-Montes' threatening behavior led officers to open fire. The 35-year-old threw multiple rocks, hitting two officers, and refused to put down other stones. They say a stun gun failed to subdue him.

He had a run-in with Pasco police early last year, having been arrested for assault after throwing objects at officers and trying to grab an officer's pistol, court records show.

Lattin cautioned the public that the investigation will take weeks, if not months, and any decision on whether to bring charges against the three officers involved will be made by the Franklin County prosecutor.

The officers are on paid administrative leave.

"Those three officers are going to have to live by their decisions," Lattin said. "Was it right? That will come out later on."

Franklin County Prosecutor Shawn Sant said it was too early to speculate about what charges potentially could be brought against the officers.

The Pasco Police Department also is conducting an administrative investigation of the shooting and could punish the officers if it finds they disobeyed department procedures of policies.

Local officials have been in contact with state and federal officials, who are observing the local criminal investigation and will decide later whether any further action needs to be taken, Lattin said.

Zambrano-Montes' family filed a claim with the city of Pasco on Friday for $25 million in damages. The claim, which was filed by his widow and two daughters, is a precursor to a lawsuit. The city has 60 days to respond.

The group conducting the criminal investigation was formed in 2010 to look at any officer-involved criminal cases. This is the 11th investigation it has conducted since then, Lattin said.

In three previous fatal police shootings in Pasco, prosecutors cleared officers with the Pasco Police Department and a sheriff's deputy who was working on a regional SWAT team.

One of the three officers involved in Tuesday's shooting was a defendant in a federal civil-rights lawsuit the city settled in 2013 for $100,000, according to court records. The lawsuit claimed Pasco officers were inadequately trained in the use of force and how to respond to street confrontations.