Esequiel Hernández Jr (May 14, 1979 - May 20, 1997) was an 18-year-old American high school student killed on May 20, 1997 by United States Marines in Redford, Texas, located approximately one mile from the United States–Mexico border. Hernández was the first American civilian to be killed by active United States Armed Forces while they were on duty since the student massacre at Kent State University in 1970 and led to Defense Secretary William Cohen issuing a temporary suspension of troop patrols near the U.S.–Mexico border. The shooting inspired the 2005 movie The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada by Tommy Lee Jones, and the 2007 documentary The Ballad of Esequiel Hernandez.