| Pages:
1
2 |
Pescador
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3587
Registered: 10-17-2002
Location: Baja California Sur
Member Is Offline
|
|
Thanks, Wayne, guess that kind of tells the real story.
|
|
|
Barry A.
Select Nomad
Posts: 10007
Registered: 11-30-2003
Location: Redding, Northern CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: optimistic
|
|
I can guarantee you-------
-----that there is more to this story than the "media" know, or are reporting------because THERE ALWAYS IS!!!! In that respect, Skeeter is right on.
It SOUNDS to me like a justified "shooting", but only time and the investigation will tell.
|
|
|
bancoduo
Banned
Posts: 1003
Registered: 10-3-2005
Location: el carcel publico mazatlan sin.
Member Is Offline
|
|
Somebody is going to get there black SUV back bullet holes and all.
|
|
|
bajajudy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6886
Registered: 10-4-2004
Location: San Jose del Cabo,BCS
Member Is Offline
|
|
A few more details...no guns in the car
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- The Mexican government called for an investigation Friday into a shooting by two federal agents that left one person dead at the
world's busiest border crossing. A union representing the Border Patrol agent involved in the shooting defended the officer's conduct.
The shooting took place Thursday afternoon after U.S. agents surrounded a sport utility vehicle that was under surveillance on suspicion of immigrant
smuggling, police said.
The driver refused to get out, and when agents smashed the vehicle's window with a baton, he accelerated in the direction of five U.S. agents blocking
his path and "nearly pinned an agent standing next to the vehicle," said San Diego police Lt. Jeff Sferra.
A Border Patrol agent and a U.S. customs agent opened fire. The Border Patrol agent's shots proved fatal, police said. The driver, identified by the
Mexican Consulate as Oscar Abraham Garcia, 22, of Tijuana, Mexico, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Five male passengers, all illegal Mexican immigrants, were taken into custody. Some of the passengers told investigators that Garcia and a 17-year-old
boy in the vehicle were both immigrant smugglers, said Alberto Lozano, spokesman for the Mexican Consulate in San Diego. Police said one person had
been arrested on immigrant-smuggling charges.
No weapons were found in the vehicle, San Diego police Lt. Kevin Rooney said. Investigators have not said whether the driver had a criminal record.
Rooney said the agents who fired have been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.
Mexican investigators were reviewing footage from security cameras at the border.
"It's worrying that someone was shot," said Luis Cabrera, the Mexican consul in San Diego. "Let's see what were the circumstances and determine if
there was or was not excessive use of force."
The shooting took place on Interstate 5, about 75 feet north of the Mexican border, at the crossing that links San Diego with Tijuana. The crossing
was shut down for nine hours while the shooting was investigated.
At the time, the vehicle was going toward the Mexico border, not away from it, police said.
Chris Bauder, president of National Border Patrol Council Local 1613, which represents Border Patrol agents in San Diego, including the one involved
in shooting, said the agent followed his training.
"Based on what I've heard, it sounds like they acted properly and did what they do were trained to do. The suspect drove right at the inspector and
posed a direct threat. His life was in danger," Bauder said.
The American Federation of Government Employees used the shooting to call for improved benefits for U.S. customs agents.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents began following the SUV after somebody reported seeing it pick up suspected illegal immigrants on the U.S.
side of another border crossing nearby, Rooney said.
[Edited on 5-19-2006 by bajajudy]
|
|
|
Barry A.
Select Nomad
Posts: 10007
Registered: 11-30-2003
Location: Redding, Northern CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: optimistic
|
|
In this case--------
-------------the "deadly weapon" was the SUV itself, apparently, and it is just as deadly as a "gun"----argueably more so.
|
|
|
bajalou
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4459
Registered: 3-11-2004
Location: South of the broder
Member Is Offline
|
|
And I thought they wanted the illegals to return to Mexico.
No Bad Days
\"Never argue with an idiot. People watching may not be able to tell the difference\"
\"The trouble with doing nothing is - how do I know when I\'m done?\"
Nomad Baja Interactive map
And in the San Felipe area - check out Valle Chico area |
|
|
Gypsy Jan
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4275
Registered: 1-27-2004
Member Is Offline
Mood: Depends on which way the wind is blowing
|
|
I do not want to trivialize the horrible event
but, I do have to share a personal, "but for the Grace of God, go I" (After all, "God" is "dog" spelled backward).
I was in San Diego yesterday and had many things to do.
But, because one of our dogs was at the vet in Rosarito and I did not want to leave him overnight and because the vet closed in the early afternoon, I
abandoned half of my "to-do list" and crossed the border south just before the incident.
Make of it what you will, but I think I had a dog angel whispering in my ear.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness.”
—Mark Twain
\"La vida es dura, el corazon es puro, y cantamos hasta la madrugada.” (Life is hard, the heart is pure and we sing until dawn.)
—Kirsty MacColl, Mambo de la Luna
\"Alea iacta est.\"
—Julius Caesar
|
|
|
Sallysouth
Super Nomad
Posts: 1835
Registered: 10-9-2003
Location: Capo Beach
Member Is Offline
Mood: missing Baja...
|
|
Yes Jan, I am very sure you did! Can you imagine sitting in the southbound with dogs, babies,health issues, etc for that many hours??? Yep, you got a
doggie angel, for sure !!!
Happiness is just a Baja memory away...
|
|
|
bajajudy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6886
Registered: 10-4-2004
Location: San Jose del Cabo,BCS
Member Is Offline
|
|
Another article on the incident
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS
May 20, 2006
Federal authorities said yesterday they plan to file charges against two people arrested Thursday following the shooting death of a suspected
immigrant smuggler near the San Ysidro border crossing.
The country's busiest land border crossing was closed for nearly nine hours, stranding motorists in miles of gridlock, while authorities investigated
the shooting.
The two who have been arrested were passengers in a black Dodge Durango that authorities tried to stop on Interstate 5 just north of the border.
Officials said the SUV accelerated toward officers, who opened fire and killed the driver.
One of the people arrested, Jose Adolfo Gonzalez Fabian, 26, a Mexican citizen, is expected to appear in court Monday on immigrant smuggling charges,
authorities said.
Gonzalez has no criminal convictions in the United States, said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Lauren Mack.
?He was arrested several times as a suspected human smuggler,? she said. But each time, authorities elected to deport him rather than to prosecute
him, she said.
A 17-year-old boy also is charged in the case. Because federal juvenile proceedings are sealed, she said she couldn't give other details about him.
The man who was shot to death was a 22-year-old Tijuana resident with a border-crossing visa, according to the Mexican Consulate.
The San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office identified the man as Oscar Abraham Garcia Barrios. Officials at the Mexican Consulate said they were
told Garcia was shot in the head, but U.S. authorities wouldn't confirm that yesterday.
Garcia was in the car with five undocumented people, ranging in age from the 17-year-old to a 35-year-old man, according to the Mexican Consulate.
The San Diego Police Department, which is handling the case, would not release identities of any of the men.
Lt. Kevin Rooney said authorities suspect Garcia was working with Gonzalez.
The other men were expected to be held by U.S. federal authorities as material witnesses, Rooney said.
Mexican Consul General Luis Cabrera Cuaron said the Mexican government will formally ask the U.S. government for an internal investigation.
The driver and three passengers were from Baja California, and the two others were from the state of Jalisco, Cabrera said.
Rooney said he didn't know how the suspected undocumented immigrants crossed the border. But the men got into the Durango on the U.S. side of the Otay
Mesa crossing.
Someone tipped off U.S. law enforcement officials, who started following the car. When Garcia apparently realized that, he attempted to return to
Mexico through the region's other border crossing at San Ysidro. U.S. authorities ? including Customs and Border Protection and the Border Patrol ?
attempted to intercept the car by stopping traffic just north of the Mexican port of entry in San Ysidro.
When the Durango got stuck in the traffic, the driver maneuvered to the far right of the freeway. A U.S. law enforcement official tried to stop the
car, Rooney said, and used a baton to break the car's window when the driver didn't obey. Afterward, he said, the car ?accelerated quickly.?
Initial reports indicated the shooting happened after the SUV pressed a Border Patrol agent against a vehicle.
Rooney said yesterday that the Durango had actually forced the agent to retreat into the slow-moving traffic lanes, which was dangerous, but he wasn't
squeezed between cars.
The agent and a Customs and Border Protection officer both fired at the car, Rooney said.
San Diego Police and the Medical Examiner's Office wouldn't say where the man was shot.
Cabrera with the Mexican Consulate, however, said he was informed that three shots were fired. Garcia apparently was shot in the head, neck and
possibly the chest, Cabrera said.
Rooney said they found no firearms or drugs during an initial search of the vehicle.
Representatives of federal agencies declined to provide further information on the incident or provide the names of the two men who fired the shots,
referring all questions to the San Diego Police Department.
Wendi Lee, a Border Patrol spokeswoman, said agents may use force if there's a possibility they may face great bodily harm. Agents use this criteria
to protect themselves and others, she said.
Rooney said his agency expects to complete their investigation and report within a month.
The SUV was registered to a person in Northern California, and police will attempt to find what relationship the person had to the driver, Rooney
said.
|
|
|
| Pages:
1
2 |
|
![[*]](images/xmbforum/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
