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Border Patrol assists man who claims he was shot by bandits
Trouble in Cayetanos

By Julia Bishop Monday, April 10, 2006
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A man claiming to have been shot by robbers walked up to U.S. Border Patrol agents at a checkpoint on Interstate 19, asking for help.

When the incident occurred on April 4, at approximately 2 in the morning, agents notified the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office.

Here illegally

The Sheriff's report says the wounded man identified himself as Fidencio Osorio Rabago and that he said he had been illegally traveling through the area of the San Cayetano Mountains in the United States with two friends hoping to reach Phoenix.

Rabago told officers that he had been walking for two days from Nogales, Sonora when he and his friends stopped to rest. He said he saw three Hispanic males in their early 20s, wearing dark clothing and armed with long, black rifles.

Rabago said that the men said several times, "Detenganse ahi," meaning "Stop right there," and then heard three shots fired. He and his friends ran in different directions.

One bullet hit a rock and fragments hit his left rib cage and thigh.

He said he walked southwest for approximately five hours looking for help, then walked up to the interstate and got assistance from a Border Patrol agent.

An investigation did not yield any more information, said U.S. Border Patrol Public Information Officer Lu Maheda.

Taken to UMC

Rabago was transported to University Medical Center in Tucson where doctors found five bullet fragments in his body. The police report says that Rabago denied treatment.

The case is being referred to the Sheriff's Criminal Investigation Division for further review.