The other three Marines involved in the shooting of the youth testified before the grand jury in return for immunity from prosecution. They said they had received authorization to shoot, and that Banuelos had fired in self-defense after the youth opened fire on them. Investigators said they believed Hernández, who was herding goats, never saw the camouflaged marines, but may have fired his World War I-era rifle to scare off wild animals. An autopsy report indicated he was not facing them.

District Attorney Albert Valadez said, "The grand jury believes he [Hernández] might have seen movement. But the jurors do not believe Zeke was trying to injure Marines or any one else at that location."

Margarito Hernández, the brother of the slain youth, said that the grand jury's decision made it look like his brother was at fault. Hernández's father stated in a TV interview, "It seems like we aren't worth anything." According to the Texas Rangers, no one called for medical help until 22 minutes after Hernández was shot.

Redford community members, decrying the grand jury's decision, have called for another grand jury investigation and are trying to convene a court of inquiry. The court will review the grand jury proceedings in the investigation, which did not include any Redford residents and had four of the 12 grand-jury members as either agents, former agents, or connected to the Border Patrol. The Hernández family attorney is pursuing a negligence claim against the federal government.

About 15 people attended a hastily-called protest the day after the verdict in Houston in front of Banuelos' attorney's office. Previous public protests in El Paso and other border towns reflected broad outrage in the largely Chicano communities along the border over the killing and the increasing militarization of the U.S. border with Mexico, Another incident in January resulted in the wounding of a Mexican immigrant at the border.

Although the Pentagon temporarily suspended border operations on July 29, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) initiated "Operation Rio Grande" on August 25. The INS military operation deployed 421 agents along the border between Texas and New Mexico under the auspices of preventing "the entry of terrorists, drug traffickers, and illegal aliens."

Meanwhile, the Center of Immigration at the University of Houston released a study documenting that 1,185 people, the majority of whom were of Mexican origin, died trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border between 1993 and 1996.  
 
 
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