El Paso: agent shoots, kills, suspected human smuggler
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Associated Press - August 9, 2007 6:55 PM ET

EL PASO, Texas (AP) - A Border Patrol agent shot and killed a suspected human smuggler at the fence that separates El Paso from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

Records show Jose Alejandro Ortiz Castillo had been caught crossing the border 28 times since 1999.

A spokesman says the agent spotted Ortiz last night apparently leading two men and a woman through a hole in the fence.

Ortiz, armed with bolt cutters, picked up a rock as the agent was arresting the woman.

The agent then fired -- hitting Ortiz.

The two men and Ortiz fled to Mexico. His body was found along the Rio Grande.

The woman was detained.

Jesus Castillo identified the body. Castillo originally told reporters that his brother was an immigrant smuggler, but later said his sibling worked in construction and occasionally crossed to seek work in El Paso.

Mexican officials are investigating the death as a homicide.

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