Vehicles suspected in border agent's death found in flames
Associated Press
Jan. 23, 2008 06:11 AM

YUMA- A Hummer suspected of being used to run over and kill a U.S. Border Patrol agent has been found burned in Mexicali in the Mexican state of Baja California, police there said.

Mexicali residents found the Hummer in flames in their neighborhood around 3 p.m. Saturday, police told the Yuma Sun newspaper Tuesday.

Juan Francisco Chapa, an international liaison for Baja police, said the Hummer was destroyed, but identification numbers found inside indicated it had previously been reported stolen in Santa Ana, Calif.





Luis Aguilar, a senior agent in the Border Patrol's Yuma sector, was killed Saturday morning when he was hit by a Hummer as he was laying down spike strips to stop the vehicle and a Ford pickup in the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area about 20 miles west of Yuma.

The vehicles were suspected of smuggling drugs or illegal immigrants. They fled to Mexico after Aguilar was hit.

Chapa said a partially burned Ford pickup truck suspected in the incident was found Sunday in a farming area south of Los Algodones, also in Baja California.

"It can't be confirmed that they are the vehicles, but from the descriptions and the time they were found, they could be the vehicles that took part," Chapa said.

He said the Ford previously had been reported stolen in Calexico, Calif.

Chapa said Baja California officials have set up roadblocks around Mexicali and highways leading out of the state in an effort to catch the drivers of the vehicles.

The FBI is leading the investigation, along with other federal, state and local authorities. Mexican authorities are cooperating.

Meanwhile, a memorial service for Aguilar was scheduled for Thursday morning.

The 32-year-old is survived by his wife and two children.