Thread: Identity Of Man Shot By Border Patrol Released

Identity released of man shot by Border Patrol agent during fray

By Debbi Baker
UNION-TRIBUNE BREAKING NEWS TEAM
12:20 p.m. August 13, 2008

SAN YSIDRO – A group suspected of trying to illegally enter the United States threw rocks at Border Patrol agents Tuesday night, who later responded by shooting at the crowd, striking one man in the torso, according to authorities.

Agents were patrolling the area at Virginia Avenue near the U.S.–Mexico border in San Ysidro – just east of a nearby outlet mall – about 10 p.m. when they were attacked by a group throwing large rocks at them from the south side of the fence, said Supervisory Border Patrol agent Daryl Reed.

The agents fired pepper balls and other chemical agents at the group in an attempt to disperse them before the agent fired his gun, Reed said.
The crowd then ran away.

A 23-year-old man was hit in the chest and was treated at a hospital in Tijuana, said San Diego police homicide Lt. Terry McManus said. His condition is not known.

Tijuana authorities identified the man as Edgar Israel Ortega Chávez, who was wounded on the right side of the lower back, just above the waist, by a large-caliber round.

He was admitted into Tijuana's General Hospital and is in stable condition, according to medical reports.

Investigators with the state General Attorney's office said they found two .223 caliber rounds and two tear gas canisters at the site where the victim was shot.

According to Tijuana police, officers received a report that some 10 individuals were attacking Border Patrol agents at approximately 10 p.m. Tuesday night.

When the officers arrived, they found Ortega Chávez lying face down. He had been shot once.

The border fence in that area is located in the United States and does not run directly on top of the border between the two countries, Reed said. Authorities are still trying to determine in which country the man was standing in when he was shot.

McManus said the unidentified agent, who has been with the Border Patrol for ten years, feared for his life and the safety of other agents when he fired his gun. No Border Patrol agents were injured during the incident.

Throwing objects at agents is a common practice, said Reed, who described the projectiles as chunks of jagged concrete about as big as softballs.

“Anyone hit with a rock that size can receive serious bodily injury,â€

The agency would like to see the man who was shot arrested for assault and will ask Mexican authorities for their cooperation, Reed said.
He could not say if the agent is on leave or has returned to duty.

I hope they do press charges.

I just hope that they stand behind these border agents.I am worried that the mexicans will demand that this agent be arrested and charged and our cowardly government will grant them what they want.

POOR BORDER PARTOL - KILL OR BE KILLED IS WHAT IT IS COMING TO.

IT IS A WAR; COUNTRY IS BEING TAKEN OVER; MILITARY ON THE BORDER WOULD BE NICE BY 22 AUGUST 2008?

A SILENCE ATTACK IS AS BAD AS RUSSIAN ATTACKING GEORGIA IN MY OPINION.

WE ARE UNDER A SILENCE ATTACK BY ILLEGAL CRIMINAL ALIENS

Border Patrol agent shoots man at US-Mexico line
By ELLIOT SPAGAT – 4 hours ago

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A U.S. Border Patrol agent shot and wounded a man as agents clashed with a group of rock-throwing assailants, marking the latest confrontation along a violent stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border, authorities said Wednesday.

Edgar Israel Ortega Chavez was shot Tuesday night in his left buttocks and was in stable condition, according to a spokesman for Hospital General in Tijuana who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the matter.

Ortega, 22, was found by Mexican authorities on a dirt bank above the spot where the border crosses the dry, concrete-lined Tijuana River basin, Tijuana police said in a news release.

San Diego police said the shooter was a 10-year Border Patrol veteran but did not release his name.

The Border Patrol said the agent feared getting struck by a rock, but the shooting drew swift criticism from Mexican authorities.

"This incident is of great concern to the government of Mexico," said Remedios Gomez Arnau, the consul general in San Diego. "Under no circumstances would it be justified to shoot lethal or non-lethal objects to the Mexican side of the border."

The shooting occurred in an area where the U.S. government's border fence parts from the legal boundary, leaving the border marked only by a yellow stripe painted across the concrete-lined riverbed.

There were conflicting accounts about what happened.

People who said they witnessed the shooting told The Associated Press that more than a dozen people gathered on Mexican soil to plan an illegal crossing to the U.S., and threw rocks to distract agents. They said Border Patrol agents tried to disperse the crowd with pepper spray bullets.

Jose Maria Martinez, who was with the group, said one agent exchanged his pepper ball launcher for a rifle. The agent then fired three shots from a concrete post that marks the official border, Martinez said.

"'You want a fight? You want a war? Let's do it,'" Martinez, 52, quoted the agent as saying. "And pow! He got him right away."

A Border Patrol spokesman, Jason Rodgers, declined to comment on Martinez's allegation and said the investigation was ongoing. He stressed that agents are well-trained and questioned the credibility of the Mexican witnesses, many of whom were trying to get into the country illegally.

Another Border Patrol spokesman, Daryl Reed, said the agent fired his gun on U.S. soil after seeing Ortega wielding a softball-sized rock on Mexican soil. He said the group hurled rocks at agents from inside the U.S., but returned to Mexico after the Border Patrol used tear gas and pepper projectiles.

"This agent thought his life was in danger or that his fellow agents' lives were in danger, so he responded," Reed said. "(A rock) is a deadly weapon."

San Diego police Lt. Terry McManus said the confrontation began when the group hurled rocks and one person failed in an attempt to climb over a fence just inside the U.S.

The shooting is the latest confrontation near the bustling San Ysidro crossing.

Border Patrol agents routinely get rocks, bottles and bricks thrown at them from people in Tijuana hoping to distract the agents long enough to jump the fence.

The Border Patrol began firing tear gas and high-impact pepper balls into Mexico last year in response to what it said was an alarming increase in attacks. San Diego-area agents have been attacked more than 330 times since October, compared with 254 times for the previous 12-month period, according to Reed.

http://ap.google.com

"This incident is of great concern to the government of Mexico," said Remedios Gomez Arnau, the consul general in San Diego. "Under no circumstances would it be justified to shoot lethal or non-lethal objects to the Mexican side of the border."

OH ....SO IT IS OK TO SHOOT LETHAL OR NON-LETHAL OBJECTS TO THE USA SIDE OF THE BORDER....BUT NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND? MORE MEXCIAN LOGIC. IF THE BORDER PATROL IS BEING ATTACKED IN ANYWAY WAY SHAPE OR FORM, THEY HAVE THE RIGHT AND THE RESPONSIBILITY TO DEFEND THEMSELVES AND OUR COUNTRY.

Migrants look at a U.S. Border Patrol car from the Mexican side of the U.S.-Mexico border in Tijuana, Mexico, on Wednesday, Aug. 13