Mexico wants Arizona rancher’s murder charge updated after migrant shooting

A Mexican official said Friday the government wants an Arizona rancher to face a tougher charge for allegedly killing a migrant who entered his property.

An Arizona judge ruled last week that George Alan Kelly, 74, should face charges of second-degree murder and aggravated assault in the death of Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, who was killed in Kelly’s ranch just outside of Nogales, Arizona.

He initially faced a charge of first degree murder.

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Vanessa Calva, Mexico’s chief consular protection officer, told U.S. prosecutors that the Mexican government believes Kelly should face a first-degree murder charge. She said Cuen-Buitimea, 48, was unarmed, fleeing and had been shot in the back.

Prosecutors allege Kelly opened fire with an AK-47 rifle on about eight unarmed migrants he encountered on Jan. 30 at his ranch, hitting Cuen-Buitimea as he tried to flee. Two migrants in the group later told authorities that Kelly also shot them, but they were not hit and escaped through a fence to return to Mexico.

Kelly’s attorney, Brenna Larkin, said her client fired warning shots over the migrants and feared for his safety, that of his wife and his property. He said he haden people with AK-47 rifles and backpacks walking through the property.

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George Alan Kelly, 73, is charged with second degree murder for allegedly shooting a migrant on his ranch just north of the border. (Santa Cruz County Court Clerk)

US court records show Cuen-Buitimea has been convicted of illegal entry and deported to Mexico multiple times, most recently in 2016, according to The Associated Press.

Kelly is free on $1 million bond.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.