JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Federal prosecutors are dropping charges against a Mexican man arrested by a U.S. Marshals Service task force that was searching for a murder suspect in Mississippi.
Court papers filed Wednesday seek dismissal of an indictment against Arturo Fomperosa Rodriguez. He had been set for trial next week.
A Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics agent assigned to the task force was grazed on the stomach during the Dec. 3 search of a Jackson home for Lucious Perkins, who wasn’t there, authorities say. The agent was treated and released.
Authorities have said it appears the officer was shot by another agent.
Rodriguez, who was at the house, was charged with illegal gun possession. Prosecutors have said Rodriguez is in the U.S. on a temporary visa and can’t have a gun.
Lisa Ross, Rodriguez’s lawyer, declined to comment Wednesday. The U.S. Attorney’s office could not immediately be reached for comment.
Ross argued earlier that evidence of her client possessing a gun should be tossed out because authorities didn’t have a search warrant for the house. She said the warrant for Perkins listed a different address.
Rodriguez was initially charged with assaulting an officer after being accused of pointing the gun at task force agents, but he wasn’t indicted for that.
A task force agent testified that Rodriguez opened the front door of the house as officers were approaching, then he slammed it shut as he ran back inside.
The agent said two officers went into a kitchen where a sheet was hung in the door of an adjoining bedroom. He said officers saw a silver pistol poking through the sheet, then opened fire. They found Rodriguez hiding under a bed. He was not hurt by the shots, but was treated and released for a head injury, authorities say.
The officer who was wounded was outside of the house, authorities said.
Perkins, who was wanted for a fatal shooting on Nov. 17, turned himself into police later that day.
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