THE LATEST: Agent kills man with assault rifle By JOSE MARÍA GUIJARRO, Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 27, 2007 4:28 PM PDT
CUAUHTEMOC BELTRAN PHOTO
Agents stand about 100 yards from the site of a shooting incident involving a Border Patrol agent in Calexico on Monday.
CALEXICO - U.S. Border Patrol officials confirmed Tuesday the man who was shot near the Mexican border on the west side of Calexico died at El Centro Regional Medical Center, where he was transferred after the incident.
The man, whose identity and legal status in the United States has yet to be determined, was shot once with an M-4 assault rifle, which is a condensed version of an M-16, Border Patrol Agent David Kim said.
An M-4 is one of three standard-issue service weapons provided to agents by the Border Patrol.
Kim said agents saw the man, along with a group of people, scale the international fence and use a raft to cross the nearby All-American Canal.
Kim said, according to initial reports from agents, the man attempted to return into Mexico and was involved in a struggle with a Border Patrol agent.
After the struggle he grabbed a softball-sized rock and began walking toward the border fence, Kim said, and an agent with an M-4 assault rifle was approached by the man with the rock.
The man raised the rock as if to throw it, according to reports, and the agent shot him once with the assault rifle.
It could not be confirmed where the man was shot, but Kim said it was at “pretty close range.”
Four of the men who climbed the fence began throwing rocks at agents on the north and south side of the All-American Canal and an agent fired a shotgun round in their direction, Kim said.
He said it was not known if anyone was struck by the shotgun blast.
The exact location of the agent who fired the shotgun wasn’t available.
The four men fled back into Mexicali.
At first, Kim said, agents used weapons that resemble paint ball guns that fire pepper spray rounds but resorted to lethal weapons when they proved ineffective.
A lighted Molotov cocktail that did not explode was found near the scene after the suspects fled, Kim said.
Kim said a smuggling organization is believed to operate in the area, but its involvement in the incident could not be confirmed.
Mexican authorities were contacted and secured the area near the incident on the Mexicali side of the border, Kim said.
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