Border agent shoots and kills driver coming in to US

[L A Woman]

A border agent shot and killed a person who driving a black SUV into the U.S. at San Ysidro border. There were passengers, but not sure how many. Border is closed and will be for about 3-4 hours. Traffic backed up at least 10 miles.

No link yet. It's on Los Angeles local news (breaking news).

On edit. Here's the link.

http://www.nbc4.tv/news/9241607/detail.html

Another EDIT - CNN is reporting that the driver was going INTO Mexico, which is different than what the reporter on NBC4 said.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. That didn't take long.

[saigon68]

34. As in "Welcome to amerika"

Enjoy your stay.

[katinmn]

Gee, that didn't take long.

Someone here predicted 72 hours. I think it's been less than that since Chimpy made his speech on immigration "reform."

[Greeby]

That didn't take long

:puke:

[Turtlebah]

2. This will send sparks! n/t

[CrazyOrangeCat]

Welcome to DU!

[Turtlebah]

7. Thanks! I had re re-register

got a new nick, I used to be Dez

[Greeby]

3. Wow, three at once

dayum :)

[katinmn]

4. We been expecting it! 7:09. Uncanny

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

6. puking smileys and "gees" only slow me down.

[L A Woman]

5. Hysteria, anyone? n/t

[rodeodance]

8. How sad. No matter who this person is-the hate rhetoric has been

surrounding us all lately.

[marmar]

9. How fitting.....on the day * is riding around the border on an ATV...

America, getting nuttier and scarier by the minute. :crazy: :scared:

[diamondsndust]

24. this ATV? .....

or...

[Az_lefty]

42. you mean they didn't cover it with red, white and blue ribbons..

like his freeking golf cart? Someone must be slipping.
:puke:

[libodem]

10. Bush must be so proud

pandering to people he can not please because he's not far right enough. We can expect a lot more dead people. Wait until the white supremacists go on target practice for illegals. We'll fine 'em dead or tortured around the outskirts of our cities just like Iraq. If they are brown ...they hardly count as humans, right?

[SammyWinstonJack]

27. And the bush body count goes up and up and up! This guy is the

Grim Reaper.

[Nostradammit]

35. A pickup truck around here has a sticker on the back window -

Shows a big buck and on the top it says, "If it's brown - it's going down."


I can't help but think the owner has something other than deer in mind.


Where's Jesus when you need him, eh?

[louis-t]

11. Jeez, and I made a joke about it....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2290212&mesg_id=2290220

Sometimes I scare myself.

[sarcasmo]

12. The Insanity begins. 43 was down at the border today riding around

in some dune buggy type vehicle. This happens and now he can say look we need to seal the southern border and get it pushed through the push over Congress and Senate.

[raccoon]

38. Where'd he get that nickname?

"43 was down at the border today riding around"

[sarcasmo]

41. He is the 43rd President of the United States.

[jody]

13. IMO criticism should wait until more facts are known. n/t

[Wheres The Beef]

14. No kidding

KABC reporting the car heading TO Mexico also. This happens all the time down here. Criminals trying to cross the border into Mexico. Lets get the story right before we start blaming the border patrol! Sometimes news reports can be wrong!

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=local&id=4185527

[Marie26]

15. Well, this wasn't really

an anti-immigrant thing. The car was heading TOWARDS Mexico. If the agent shot it, it's probably because they refused to stop at the checkpoint or something.

[Mr_Spock]

16. "which was under surveillance for suspected migrant smuggling."

I'm not sure what the deal is here...

[Marie26]

17. Maybe

they'd already flagged the car description or license plate when it previously entered the US because they suspected that car was involved in smuggling immigrants past the border. Then, when the car later headed back across the US border to pick up more passengers, the Border Patrol agent tried to stop it at the checkpoint to question the driver.

"A federal agent rapped on the Durango's window with his baton, but the driver accelerated and the agent opened fire, said Anna Valderrama of Tijuana, Mexico, who was about four vehicles back when the shooting occurred."

I guess there might be an overreaction because he didn't try to shoot out the tires, but I can also see why the Agent felt like he had to stop the car.

[primavera]

43. Even if that were so...

... in the US, running from enforcement officers isn't sufficient justification for the officer to shoot a suspect who, after all, is still just a suspect, not someone already tried, convicted, and sentenced to death.

[stepnw1f]

18. Red Necks in Control

or out of control creating chaos, death and destruction.

"One thing leads to another" - the FIXX

[deminks]

19. And so it begins. nt

[Baclava]

20. We reward them for entering the US and now shoot them for leaving?

Wow, things sure have changed quick!

[struggle4progress]

21. ".. driver .. dead .. with multiple gunshot wounds .."

.. The driver, who not immediately identified, was pronounced dead at the scene with multiple gunshot wounds, said Maurice Luque, a spokesman for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department ..

http://www.nbc4.tv/news/9241607/detail.html


Wonder what rules govern shooting people trying to leave the country ..

[Stinky The Clown]

22. God help us .... its starting ......

From your link: A federal agent rapped on the Durango's window with his baton, but the driver accelerated and the agent opened fire, said Anna Valderrama of Tijuana, Mexico, who was about four vehicles back when the shooting occurred.

Deadly force for accelerating? Speeding as death penalty crime?

If they thought the driver was smuggling people, who would open fire on the car, not knowing in what fender or floor board the suspected cargo was secreted? Was someone perhaps trying to make sure they 'got 'em'?

God help us when untrained National Guardsmaen are tasked with this same sort of duty.

God help us.

[primavera]

44. Maybe we can get those guys from the recent Haditha massacre...

... to apply their My Lai style training to border enforcement. Now there's a brilliant plan!

[NorthernSpy]

23. the same thing has happened to Americans far from the border...

A law enforcement officer on foot stops a vehicle. The driver of the vehicle decides not to cooperate, and hits the gas. The officer -- who, like I said, is on foot at the time -- is just inches away from the car when the driver starts to bolt. The officer finds himself in a vulnerable position, considers himself threatened, and opens fire on the car.

We don't know enough yet about this incident at the border crossing to decide whether the shooting was justifiable. I'm just pointing out that this scenario happens on a fairly regular basis under circumstances that don't lead anyone to impute much political significance at all.

[951-Riverside]

25. ....Hmmm no one is screaming racism

Probably because the incident occured while the driver was headed into Mexico from the US side. :mad:

[anewdeal]

33. no one should be screaming racism

[Ex Lion Tamer]

26. I was there at the time.

I was walking back into the States after an afternoon in Tijuana. As I was crossing back over the highway to get to my car in a parking lot by the duty-free store, I could see the ambulance arrive and the traffic start to back up, but I didn't know what had happened. I even took some pictures from the bridge: people were getting out of their cars down below. I figured something had happened.

Weird that I was there.

[Mr_Spock]

28. Yes, that is weird

You're our reporter on the scene :D

[Ex Lion Tamer]

29. I'd be a great reporter:

I was clueless. Maybe Faux News will hire me.

[fushuugi]

30. rotfl

^_^

[Up2Late]

31. O.K. NOW I'M CONFUSED! Reuters says the Car was going INTO MEXICO!

:wtf:(WTF? Maybe it's just me, but I trust Reuters more than a Breaking News alert form a local T.V. Station.)

Shooting closes busy U.S.-Mexico border crossing

Fri May 19, 2006 12:27 AM ET

TIJUANA, Mexico (Reuters) - Traffic into Mexico from the United States through the world's busiest land border crossing was blocked for several hours on Thursday after U.S. authorities shot and killed a driver who refused to stop.

Mexican news reports said U.S. authorities shot dead a driver heading into Mexico at the San Ysidro border post linking San Diego with the Mexican border city of Tijuana after he refused to stop and hit a border guard standing in his way.

The Televisa network said four passengers were arrested.

Television stations showed long traffic jams north of the crossing, through which more than 17 million vehicles and 41 million people entered the United States last year.

(more at link)

<http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=12262229&src=rss/domesticNews>

[Up2Late]

32. O.K. The AP story say the vehicle was heading South also!

(And I think they might have killed a MinuteMan, check out the paragraph in bold.) :sarcasm:

Border Crossing Shut Following Shooting

Friday May 19, 2006 4:31 AM

AP Photo AZPM218

By THOMAS WATKINS

Associated Press Writer

SAN DIEGO (AP) - A busy U.S-Mexico border crossing was shut down Thursday after U.S. authorities shot and killed the driver of a car headed for Mexico, officials said.

The shooting occurred on southbound Interstate 5 around 3:30 p.m. about 50 feet north of the San Ysidro Port of Entry, the world's busiest border crossing, which links Tijuana, Mexico, with San Diego. The driver, who not immediately identified, was pronounced dead at the scene with multiple gunshot wounds, said Maurice Luque, a spokesman for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents began following a black SUV after a citizen reported seeing the vehicle pick up suspected illegal immigrants near the U.S. side of the border, police said.

As traffic backed up near the border, the vehicle stopped on the shoulder. When agents approached, the suspect began to drive off, said police Lt. Kevin Rooney. Two agents then opened fire, he said.

(more alt link)

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5831738,00.html>

[PsychoDad]

36. They shot at a Black SUV?

Like our government uses?

Strange...

[onehandle]

37. 90% of people will assume this was about illegal aliens coming here.

Rove knows this and will use it to their advantage.

[Blaq Dem]

39. Future: Immigrants shot for leaving U.S.

Corporations want cheap labor so badly, they'll do anything. Sounds almost like slavery.

[slackmaster]

40. Take a look at what the incident did to southbound traffic on I-5 and 805

I know a few people who got stuck in it. It was like the opening scene in the movie Falling Down. People were stuck with food, water, or a reasonable place to urinate for several hours.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20060519-9999-1n19border.html

Another EDIT - CNN is reporting that the driver was going INTO Mexico, which is different than what the reporter on NBC4 said.

It's unfortunate that the OP didn't edit the subject line.