Men in camouflage kill border crossers
Men in camouflage kill border crossers
Posted: 8:18 PM
Last Updated: 1 hour and 5 minutes ago
By: Associated Press
ELOY, AZ - Authorities in southern Arizona say two men in a pickup truck carrying illegal immigrants have been fatally shot near Eloy.
Pima County Sheriff's officials say it appears the truck was ambushed by an unknown number of people dressed in camouflage and armed with rifles late Sunday night.
Border Patrol agents and police officers from Eloy and Coolidge responded to a report of shots fired about 10:30 p.m. in a wash known for human smuggling activity.
Authorities say one man was found dead inside the bed of the truck and another victim was located in a wash near the vehicle. Their identities haven't been released.
Detectives say it appears shot were fired at the truck by the ambush group.
Several illegal immigrants were found hiding in the desert near the truck.
Men in camouflage kill border crossers
Two killed in Eloy ambush near smuggling route
Two killed in Eloy ambush near smuggling route
by Daniel Gonzalez and J. Craig Anderson -
Apr. 9, 2012 09:40 PM
The Republic | azcentral.com
Police are looking for several gunmen who opened fire Sunday night near Eloy on a pickup truck loaded with immigrants who officials suspect are in the country illegally. Two of the migrants were killed.
Police don't know why the gunmen opened fire on the pickup, but the shooting happened in an area commonly used by human smugglers, said Dawn M. Barkman, a spokeswoman for the Pima County Sheriff's Department.
In the past, gangs known as bajadores, or rip-off crews, have ambushed groups of illegal immigrants that have just been smuggled across the border in order to hold them for ransom or extort money from them.
Barkman said "every possibility is being investigated."
She said 20 to 30 migrants were inside the pickup when it was ambushed in a wash on the southern edge of Eloy by several men wearing camouflage clothing. They were armed with rifles.
Police and Border Patrol agents responded about 10:35p.m. Sunday, she said.
They found one of the victims inside the bed of the pickup. The other was found in a nearby wash, Barkman said.
No information about the dead has been released.
Barkman said the other migrants in the pickup ran into the desert. Five were located hiding in the brush nearby. They were interviewed by homicide detectives and turned over to the Border Patrol, she said.
The others have not been found, she said.
The shooting occurred south of West Antares Drive near the border of Pinal and Pima counties.
In January 2007, four men wearing camouflage and berets and armed with an assault weapon killed a smuggling suspect and wounded another person after ambushing a vehicle in a field about 40miles north of Eloy.
And in March 2007, gunmen wearing dark clothing ambushed a vehicle loaded with more than 20 illegal immigrants near Green Valley, south of Tucson, killing two people. Two men from Mexico were arrested following that shooting, Barkman said. A third suspect still hasn't been found, she said.
Border Patrol agents from Casa Grande responded to the shooting along with officers from Eloy and Coolidge.
Two killed in Eloy ambush near smuggling route
