The Justice Department must assist in the investigation of the police shooting death of an unarmed Hispanic orchard worker in Pasco, Washington to ensure the inquiry is "fair and impartial," the ACLU of Washington demanded on Tuesday. 
 
 The Feb. 10 death of Antonio Zambrano-Montes, a 35-year-old orchard worker who police said was unarmed, has sparked growing outrage in the U.S. and Mexico and calls for a federal investigation to determine if his civil rights were violated and if police used excessive force. The shooting was captured on a widely seen video that appears to show Zambrano-Montes moving away from Pasco police officers as they open fire; police have said he was being chased because he was throwing rocks. 
 
 In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, the ACLU said: "The facts surrounding Mr. Zambrano's death must be fully and carefully investigated. The Department of Justice can help ensure that the investigation is fair and impartial." 
 
 The ACLU also said it was concerned about an inquiry initiated after the shooting by a special unit made up of investigators from local police and county sheriff's departments. 
 
 The investigators were "unnecessarily focusing" on Zambrano's activities during the weeks prior to the shooting, rather than the circumstances of the shooting, the organization said. 
 
 The fatal shooting was the fourth by police in Pasco in the previous six months, making this agricultural city of about 68,000 residents the newest center of a growing national debate about police violence. Last week, the Pasco Latino leaders group Consejo Latino called for a federal investigation into the shooting. 
 
 The ACLU noted that one an officer involved in the shooting death of Zambrano was previously sued for using excessive force against another Pasco resident. 
 
 Also on Tuesday, the man's mother, Agapita Montes-Rivera, said she was more than 2,000 miles away, in Mexico, when she saw video of her son's shooting being shown on TV. She rushed to the set in an attempt to help him. 
 
 "Truthfully, when I saw they were chasing him, and he puts his hands up, and they shoot him, I threw my hands at the television," Montes-Rivera told the Associated Press. "Had I been there in person, I would have been the first to jump in so they wouldn't have shot him." 
 
 In this Feb. 18, 2015 photo, candles are shown at a memorial in Pasco, Washington, on the sidewalk where Antonio Zambrano-Montes, an unarmed man who was running away from police at a crowded intersection, fell after being fatally shot by police. (AP Photo/Nicholas K. Geranios) Nicholas K. Geranios / AP 
 
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 Police officers who fatally shot a Mexican man in Pasco, Washington, earlier this month fired their weapons 17 times, and struck the orchard worker five or six times, a spokesman for a task force investigating the shooting said Wednesday. 
 
 None of the shots were to the back, he said. 
 
 Antonio Zambrano-Montes, 35, was shot at around 5 p.m. Feb. 10 after police said he threw rocks at passing cars and then at officers. Video taken by witnesses and posted online appear to show Zambrano-Montes moving away from officers before he was shot. 
 
 Preliminary autopsy information indicates Zambrano-Montes was shot five or six times, said Kennewick Police Sgt. Ken Lattin, a spokesman for a multi-agency law enforcement unit investigating the shooting. All three officers involved fired, he said. A Taser was used at least twice before the shooting, Lattin said. No photos appear to have been taken of any injuries suffered by the officers involved, he said. 
 
 The shooting has prompted protests in Pasco, a town of about 68,000 people, a little more than half of whom are Latino. The Mexican government has also criticized the shooting as an unwarranted use of deadly force. This week the American Civil Liberties Union called on the Department of Justice to assist in the investigation and ensure it is "fair and impartial." A Pasco Latino group has also asked for a federal probe. 
 
 Lattin also dismissed suggestions that the task force, called the Special Investigation Unit, is unable to be fair because if its connection to Pasco police. 
 
 "We take our integrity very seriously and we will put together an impartial investigation," he said. "We're not here to cover up for anybody." 
 
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 — Phil Helsel ||||| KENNEWICK, Wash. (AP) — An unarmed Mexican man fatally shot by police in Washington state was hit by five or six of the 17 shots fired by the three officers involved, a task force spokesman says. 
 
 Activist Felix Vargas, right, talks with reporters, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2015, after a briefing on the investigation of the fatal police shooting of Antonio Zambrano-Montes, who was unarmed, in nearby... (Associated Press) 
 
 Agapita Montes-Rivera, second from left, the mother of Antonio Zambano-Montes, is comforted following the funeral for her son Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2015, at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Pasco, Wash.... (Associated Press) 
 
 Agapita Montes-Rivera, left, places a crucifix on the coffin of her son, Antonio Zambrano-Montes during his funeral service conducted by Rev. Lutakome Nsubuga, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2015, at St. Patrick's... (Associated Press) 
 
 Rev. Lutakome Nsubuga comforts Agapita Montes-Rivera, center left, the mother of Antonio Zambrano-Montes, following the funeral for her son Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2015, at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in... (Associated Press) 
 
 Kennewick Police Sgt. Ken Lattin talks to reporters, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2015 about the investigation of the fatal police shooting of Antonio Zambrano-Montes, who was unarmed, in nearby Pasco, Wash.,... (Associated Press) 
 
 This undated photo provided by Agapita Montes-Rivera via Fabian Ubay, shows Antonio Zambrano-Montes. Agapita Montes-Rivera, the mother of Antonio Zambrano-Montes, an unarmed Mexican man fatally shot by... (Associated Press) 
 
 None of the shots struck former orchard worker Antonio Zambrano-Montes in the back, Kennewick police Sgt. Ken Lattin said Wednesday. 
 
 Lattin is the spokesman for a regional law enforcement task force investigating the Feb. 10 killing, which has led to weeks of protests and calls for a federal probe. 
 
 Because full autopsy results are pending, Lattin told a news conference he couldn't be more specific about where the 35-year-old was shot. 
 
 Video taken by a witness shows Zambrano-Montes running from Pasco officers. As the officers draw closer, he stops, turns and faces them. Multiple "pops" are heard, and then he falls to the ground. 
 
 Lattin said officers fired stun guns at least twice but failed to stop Zambrano-Montes before firing their weapons. 
 
 Zambrano-Montes was shot to death around 5 p.m. at a busy intersection in Pasco. His death has sparked two weeks of protests in the majority-Hispanic agricultural city along the Columbia River in the southeastern part of the state. 
 
 Authorities say the Mexican immigrant was throwing rocks at passing vehicles and later at responding officers. The Franklin County coroner has ordered an inquest into the death. 
 
 Federal authorities have said they are monitoring the local investigation. Lattin said it will be thorough and fair. 
 
 "We're not here to cover up for anybody," he told reporters. 
 
 Lattin said a rock was found next to Zambrano-Montes' body, but no gun or knife. 
 
 About 100 mourners gathered Wednesday at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Pasco for Zambrano-Montes' funeral Mass. His body was to be returned to his small hometown in a rural part of Michoacan, Mexico, the Tri-City Herald reported. 
 
 Critics of the shooting continued to call for a federal investigation. The American Civil Liberties Union has also asked the federal government to intervene. 
 
 Felix Vargas, a Hispanic leader from Pasco, said he met with a federal official last weekend and planned to meet with U.S. Attorney Michael Ormsby to discuss the case. 
 
 The FBI has said it is monitoring the local investigation. 
 
 Charles Herrmann, an attorney representing Zambrano-Montes' estranged wife and two teenage daughters, said it is difficult for neighboring police officers to investigate their colleagues. 
 
 "I do not think these authorities can conduct a truly impartial investigation of their brother officers," Herrmann said. He also doubted that Franklin County Prosecutor Shawn Sant was inclined to bring charges against the officers involved. 
 
 "The Zambranos are going to have their day in court," Herrmann predicted. 
 
 He said the widow, Teresa De Jesus Meraz-Ruiz, who lives in California, was "devastated" by the shooting. The couple has reportedly been estranged since 2006. 
 
 Meanwhile, Lattin said the special investigations unit, made up of officers from four neighboring cities, was awaiting final toxicology and other lab reports before sending its final report to the prosecutor. He predicted that would take several more weeks. 
 
 Sant said it would take about 60 days after the report is finished to begin the coroner's inquest. The contents of the report will be released during the inquest, but not before, he said. 
 
 The family also commissioned its own autopsy. 
 
 Lattin said the three officers would not be interviewed until all the other preliminary work of the investigation is completed. 
 
 Officers continue to seek details of Zambrano-Montes' whereabouts in the two weeks before the shooting. His home had recently burned and he had stayed for a time in a homeless shelter, but no one has yet been able to account for his actions in the two weeks prior to his death, Lattin said. 
 
 Officers want to know if he was suffering from mental health issues, drug use or an injury, Lattin said. 
 
 Lattin said this would be the last of his weekly briefings to the news media because officials did not want to contaminate future jury pools. 
 
 The killing was the fourth by police in less than a year for fast-growing Pasco, a city of 68,000 where more than half the residents are Hispanic but few are members of the police force or the power structure. 
 
 Officers were exonerated after similar investigations in the first three cases. Critics of the latest case say the officers should have used less than lethal force to capture Zambrano-Montes. 
 
 Police said officers felt threatened. Zambrano-Montes was arrested last year for assault after throwing objects at Pasco officers and trying to grab an officer's pistol, court records show.
– Police in Washington state are releasing more details in the controversial police killing of a Mexican orchard worker in Pasco on Feb. 10. Antonio Zambrano-Montes, 35, was allegedly throwing rocks at passing cars and then at police officers, but video of the incident appears to show him running away from officers before being shot. Now a spokesman for the task force investigating the shooting says the three officers involved fired at Zambrano-Montes a total of 17 times, five or six of those shots hit him, and none of them hit him in the back, NBC News reports. The spokesman also says that before the shootings a Taser was used at least twice. The spokesman also confirmed that though a rock was found near Zambrano-Montes' body, no gun or knife was found, the AP reports. The Mexican government has criticized the use of deadly force in the case, the ACLU has asked the Justice Department to get involved in the investigation, and residents of Pasco—where the population is more than 50% Latino—are protesting. A local Latino group also wants a federal investigation of the incident. The ACLU notes that this was the fourth fatal shooting by Pasco police in six months, NBC reports, but the AP notes that similar investigations into the first three incidents resulted in the officers involved being exonerated.