According to the Associated Press, Douglas police were chasing a car that was racing for the Mexican Border. There, the vehicle and its occupants ran into the Border patrol.
Douglas police spotted a suspicious vehicle that quickly sped away from them toward the Mexican border, Cochise County sheriff’s spokeswoman Carol Capas said in a statement issued late Monday. Border Patrol agents were in the area when the vehicle made it to the border and “there were rocks thrown” at the agent, she said.
The dead man is Carlos La Madrid. AP did not reveal whether La Madrid was an illegal alien.
La Madrid, an FBI spokesman said, could have been loading marijuana into a vehicle when the cops spotted him, and may also have been trying to flee back across to Mexico using a ladder at the border fence.
Investigators are releasing few details because the investigation is ongoing.
Under Attack
The Border Patrol has been under seige for years. Two weeks ago, a pair of Mexicans standing atop the border fence at Calexico, Calif., pelted agents with rocks while they were trying to arrest three illegals.
And sometimes, the border is more violent. In Sept. 2010, Mexican drug traffickers opened fire on border agents near San Antonio, Texas, while they chasing truck along the Rio Grande River.
In that case, one group of agents was conducting a river-borne drug bust when another group of agents entered the area chasing the truck. Mexicans began firing across the border, and the agents returned fire.
Another Fatality
Monday’s shooting isn’t the first time an agent has defended himself with lethal force while under attack by rock-throwing Mexicans. In June, 2010, an agent killed a 15-year-boy under similar circumstances. Border jumpers were tossing rocks at agents in downtown El Paso.
El Paso is across the border from Ciudad Juarez, one of the most dangerous cities in the world, where more than 3,000 were killed in 2010 alone. Between January 2008 and July 2010 the drug wars claimed 6,000 lives.
On February 10-11, 2011, 18 were killed in the narcocity during 24-hours of gunfighting that included a siege on a bar that left six waitresses dead.
Photo: AP Images
