FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CR

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 1995 (202) 616-2765

TDD (202) 514-1888

THREE TEXANS INDICTED FOR A RACIALLY-MOTIVATED SHOOTING SPREE

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Three Texans who killed a black man and

seriously wounded two others during a racially-motivated shooting
spree though Lubbock have been indicted by a federal grand jury,
the Justice Department announced today.
"Most Americans would like to see the day when racial
intolerance and discrimination in our nation no longer exist," said
U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno. "Unfortunately, that day has not
yet arrived."
The nine count indictment, returned yesterday in Lubbock and
unsealed today, charged Roy Ray Martin, Eli Trevino Mungia, and
Ricky Rivera Mungia with violating federal criminal civil rights
and gun laws. It alleges that the three drove through the streets
of Lubbock last October hunting black men, luring them to their
car, and shooting them at close range with a short-barreled
shotgun.
According to the indictment, the defendants expressed a desire
to start a race war that would eliminate blacks.
"This indictment shows that racially-motivated killings are
not a thing of the past," said Assistant Attorney General for Civil
Rights Deval L. Patrick. "The Justice Department is committed to
the vigorous prosecution of all cases that reflect the
discrimination that still exists in society."
The Justice Department opens approximately 450 hate-crime
investigations each year.
Count one of the indictment alleges that the three engaged in
a conspiracy to violate the civil rights of the victims. Counts
two, four, and six allege that the racially motivated shootings
interfered with the victims' right to use the public streets and
sidewalks of Lubbock. Counts three, five, seven, eight, and nine
allege violations of gun laws stemming from the use of the short-barreled shotgun.
Under federal law, the defendants, if convicted, could be
sentenced to death. No decision has been made on whether the
government will seek the death penalty for the three.
"Texans judge people by what they do and not by the color of
their skin," said Paul E. Coggins, Jr., U.S. Attorney in Dallas. "It is abhorrent to us that these victims were killed and
terrorized solely because of the color of their skin."
The matter was investigated by the Lubbock Police Department
and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and will be jointly
prosecuted by the United States Attorney's Office, the Civil Rights
Division of the Department of Justice, and the Lubbock County
District Attorney who will be cross-designated to assist in the
prosecution.
Last month the Justice Department obtained guilty pleas from
two Missouri men who drove around St. Louis spraying more than 50
African Americans with Kool-Aid from a high-pressured fire
extinguisher.
# # #
95-129