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DE RUEHME #2463/01 2312110
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 192110Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY MEXICO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7970
INFO RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE
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RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHINGTON DC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
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RUEABND/DEA HQS WASHINGTON DC
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MEXICO 002463 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PINR MX
SUBJECT: CANADIAN INVESTIGATION OF BRAD WILL CASE 
BUTTRESSES PGR CRIME THEORY 
 
¶1. (SBU)  Summary:  Three Canadian investigators, one 
forensic pathologist and two retired Royal Canadian Mounted 
Police Sergeants, traveled to Mexico from July 7-20, 2009 to 
review the circumstances surrounding the homicide of Bradley 
Will and the subsequent PGR investigation.  The investigation 
focused on the forensic work carried out by PGR,s Bureau of 
Expert  Services.  The team of Canadian investigators visited 
the crime scene and analyzed photographs, video, diagrams, 
autopsy reports, witness statements, and the bullets that 
killed Mr. Will.  They also reviewed the final reports from 
PGR, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), and CNDH.  The team 
found that the physical evidence points to a scenario in 
which two shots fired at relatively close range were 
responsible for Will's death.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) The team described the initial investigation 
conducted by the State of Oaxaca Attorney General's Office as 
flawed.  State investigators did not control the crime scene, 
likely lost valuable evidence, and failed to interview key 
eyewitnesses.  While lamenting the loss of such significant 
information, the Canadian team also recognized that the city 
of Oaxaca was under siege at the time and that access to the 
crime scene may have been impossible.  The team also 
described the autopsy as flawed and conducted in a manner 
"likely to damage rather than preserve evidence."  In 
contrast, the team described the investigation conducted by 
PGR,s Expert Services Office as completed in a "technically 
proficient manner with considerable care to accuracy and 
completeness." 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The team's report found the following: 
     Both bullets that struck Mr. Will were fired from the 
same gun; 
     The first bullet that struck Mr. Will did not ricochet 
off any other surface.  Instead, the Canadian investigators 
concluded that the hammer, chisel, and forceps that the 
forensic technicians used to remove the bullet from Mr. 
Will's spinal column most likely damaged the bullet. This 
finding contradicted the PHR report which stated the bullet 
had ricocheted off a large red truck present during the 
protest; 
     The investigators believe that the most logical and 
best supported explanation for the second shot into Mr. 
Will's right side is that it occurred while he was carried 
away in a supine position.  This scenario makes the most 
sense to the investigators, as it accords with video clips 
that display Mr. Will's shirt pulled up in a position that 
corresponds with the holes associated with his injury; 
     Inasmuch as the investigators believe that the second 
shot occurred as Mr. Will was carried away, they were 
inclined to accept the theory that the initial shot was fired 
from a relatively close range.  In this way, the gunman would 
have had time to reach Will to deliver the second shot 
seconds later; 
      The CNDH,s analysis of the audio tape, which 
indicated the shots were fired from a greater distance, was 
inherently flawed because it failed to take into account the 
speed of sound; 
     Pictures show Mr. Will filming with his left shoulder 
forward. This fact, combined with the angle of the entry 
wounds, indicate that the individual who fired the first shot 
was most likely standing in front of Mr. Will and to his 
right.  The team also observed that a man wearing a black 
bandanna as a mask looked at Mr. Will and then nodded to 
someone to the right of Mr. Will immediately before he was 
shot. This man has never been found; 
     Calculations that take into account the camera angle, 
as well as the dimensions of the street and fixed physical 
objects, indicate that the maximum distance the shooter could 
have been standing from Mr. Will is 12.2 meters (or 
approximately 40 feet).  Since there was no gun shot residue, 
the shooter also must have been at least .7 meters 
(approximately 2.2 feet) away from Mr. Will; 
     Municipal Police Officers indicated in several 
depositions that they were in the area where Mr. Will was 
killed responding to complaints of a gunfight between 
residents and members of APPO.  The police officers stated 
that they heard sounds of gunfire and fired their guns in the 
air in an effort to disperse the crowd.  No individuals 
identifiable as police were observed on video clips taken 
near the time of Mr. Will's death within the range specified 
 
MEXICO 00002463  002 OF 002 
 
 
above.  The bullets that killed Mr. Will did not come from 
any of the municipal police weapons turned over by the State 
of Oaxaca Attorney General's Office; 
     APPO members, their supporters, and some journalists 
were observed within the ranges specified above.  Of 10 
journalists present at the scene when Will was shot and 
killed, five say that APPO had told them to stop filming. 
APPO members ordered the journalists to cease filming as they 
were discharging their weapons and throwing stones. Three 
independent witnesses overheard APPO members telling 
journalists to stop filming; one witness claimed he was 
threatened by APPO that he would be in danger if he spoke to 
police about what he had observed; 
     Based on its observations, the Canadian RMCP veterans 
concluded that APPO members had 1) a motive for killing Mr. 
Will in view of the fact that he was filming events (APPO 
members shooting guns, throwing Molotov cocktails and rocks) 
that they did not want recorded; 2) opportunity in that the 
shots were fired from a close range within which APPO members 
were located; and 3) means in that at least two individuals 
apparently associated with APPO were firing handguns close to 
Mr. Will.   The team does not attempt to address the guilt or 
innocence of Juan Manuel Martinez, the individual arrested 
under suspicion for Mr. Will's death. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Comment:  The Canadian team's findings buttress 
PGR's contention that its own forensics point to APPO 
demonstrators.  However, they do not identify any particular 
individual perpetrator, or clinch the government's case 
against Martinez.  Martinez remains incarcerated in Oaxaca 
pending the outcome of proceedings against him by a state 
judge, and enjoys the continued support of the human rights 
community, which believes he is being framed by the GOM. End 
Comment. 
 
Visit Mexico City's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/mexicocity and the North American 
Partnership Blog at http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/nap / 
 
FEELEY