Thread: Killing latest violent act in Baja

Americans feared to be targeted
By Anna Cearley
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

August 26, 2006

TIJUANA – A drive-by shooting that left an American woman dead this week is the latest of what some frequent Mexico travelers are saying is a string of violent acts against U.S. citizens along Baja California's main peninsular highway.

Raquel Duarte Fife, 64, was killed Aug. 22 near Cataviña, about eight hours from the border, as her husband drove north on the highway. A gunman shot at them about 40 times from a beige Buick, according to a report prepared by Mexico's Federal Preventive Police.

Fife was shot in the head during the 7:30 a.m. assault, according to the police report. Her husband was not injured.

Acquaintances of the couple said Raquel and Larry Fife are well-known operators of a motel and restaurant in Bahía de los Angeles on the eastern side of the Baja California peninsula.

The killing, and other unusual incidents in recent weeks along the highway, have been hot topics on a travelers' Web site called Bajanomad.com. Some postings on the site speculate that U.S. citizens are becoming targets for roadside criminals.

One unconfirmed report being circulated is of an American man whose car was stolen at gunpoint Aug. 13 after he stopped along the highway north of Ensenada.

A separate case, which has been confirmed by San Diego police, is that of a California man who was shot Aug. 20 while driving with his family on the toll section of the road, near Rosarito Beach. The man, John Thomas Nisbet of Atascadero, said the bullet passed through his leg, and he required just a few hours of medical attention.

Lorena Blanco, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana, said she knew of the incident that claimed the life of Raquel Duarte Fife, a naturalized U.S. citizen, but not the other incidents.

Monica Véjar, a spokeswoman for Baja California's tourism office, said she only knew of the Fife case, as well. Véjar said tourism officials have been meeting with law enforcement in the southern part of the state where the killing took place to beef up security.

The case is being investigated by the state Attorney General's Office. Though the killing has the appearance of an act of random violence, Véjar said that investigators are exploring a lead that threats were allegedly made against the couple.

Meanwhile, the possibility that the shooter was a former employee was also being raised on the Bajanomad.com discussion board.

The shooter was persistent, reloading his gun several times during the assault, and the car was hit 18 times, according to the federal police report.

In the other confirmed case, Nisbet said he suspects he was targeted by people who wanted to steal his 2001 Ford Expedition and a trailer with off-road vehicles.

He said he was heading back to the border Aug. 20 from Bahía de Los Angeles after spending six days there. He was traveling with his wife and two children, who were sleeping.

He said that about 3 a.m. two pickup trucks attempted to block him as he traveled north on the highway near Rosarito Beach. A white Toyota Tacoma slowed down in front of him, forcing him to brake. A blue Toyota truck pulled alongside and someone shot at him once, he said, hitting him in the leg.

Nisbet said the blue truck then crashed into the white truck, and he was able to escape. But the blue truck continued to pursue him for several miles. He said his family heard about three more gunshots, but none apparently hit the car.

“I've been going down there about a year and a half, and we never had any problems with anything,” he said. “I think we all got a bit complacent.”

Nisbet filed a report with San Diego police after he got to the border, about 30 minutes away, and he said he was treated in a San Diego hospital for a few hours.

He said he has decided not to travel at night again, and to try to caravan with other travelers.

Other Bahía de Los Angeles residents are mourning the death of Fife. One part-time resident, Jean Diaz, said that about 100 full-time U.S. expatriates live around the community and several hundred more come to visit regularly from the United States.

Diaz, who runs a hotel near the Fifes' but also stays in San Diego, said it's a quiet, peaceful part of the peninsula where locals earn a living through fishing and tourism. She said Raquel and Larry Fife were well-known in the community.

“Raquel was a marvelous cook, and they were both well loved and respected, she said. “She was very quiet but very friendly and great with kids and everybody . . . She was grandma to them.”

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexi ... death.html

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