Thread: Police: 2 Killed In Shooting On New Mexico-Mexico Border

Video at the link too.
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Police: 2 Killed In Shooting On New Mexico-Mexico Border


UPDATED: 7:14 pm MDT May 7, 2007

COLUMBUS, N.M. -- Authorities said two men were killed in a shooting Monday on the New Mexico-Mexico border.

Luna County sheriff's deputies told Action 7 News that a gunman unloaded more than 28 rounds into an SUV in Palomas, Mexico. There were four men inside the SUV, two were killed, one was wounded and another escaped unharmed.

Police said the uninjured man drove the vehicle from the passenger seat across the border to Columbus.

The Luna County Sheriff's Office said this is the second time this month that violence from Palomas has spilled over into Columbus.

Officials are questioning the uninjured man about the incident. The wounded man was flown to a hospital in El Paso for treatment.

http://www.koat.com/news/13273490/detail.html

Man in 2nd drug hit dies; survivor of first shooting charged
Times staff report
El Paso Times
Article Launched:05/09/2007 12:00:00 AM MDT

The wounded driver of this week's second assassination attempt in Palomas, Mexico, has died at Thomason Hospital, Customs and Border Protection officials said. The 30-year-old U.S. citizen living in Palomas had sought refuge in Columbus, NM, at about 4:30 a.m. today.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, the survivor of the first drug hit, identified as Nestor Acosta Saenz, 41, was arrested on weapons charges.

On Monday morning, Saenz escaped a shootout in Palomas, Mexico, by seeking refuge in the United States and was then arrested for weapons possession, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials said.

Saenz, drove a shot-up SUV to the Columbus, N.M., port of entry by reaching over the corpse of the murdered driver to steer the vehicle. He was the only unharmed passenger of the vehicle in what U.S. officials said was a drug-related hit. ICE officials said that two weapons, a 9mm handgun and a .45-caliber handgun, were found in the vehicle.

This morning, the U.S. citizen living in Palomas, was driving an old Chevy S-10 pickup with New Mexico plates. The truck, riddled with bullets, arrived at the Customs checkpoint at 4:30 a.m. The driver had been hit multiple times in the neck, stomach, leg and foot, officials said.

The wounded driver of the S-10 sought refuge in the United States at the Columbus, N.M., port of entry this morning and died later at Thomason Hospital, Customs and Border Protection officials said.

Officials blamed the increased violence in the small border village on drug trafficking.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_5850472

This article dated the same as the first one on this thread.
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Car races through Customs with dead driver (1:48 p.m.)
By Louie Gilot / El Paso Times
El Paso Times
Article Launched:05/07/2007 05:40:04 PM MDT

A shot-up car with a dead man in the driver seat raced to through the Columbus, N.M., port of entry this morning, the second such violent episode in the area in less than a month, Customs and Border Protection officials said.
The incident started in Downtown Palomas, Columbus' sister city in Mexico, when a gunman opened fire on a red Suburban that was pulling up to a restaurant, Luna County Sheriff Raymond Cobos said.

CBP officers heard automatic gun fire at about 9:30 a.m. and a few minutes later saw the SUV with Colorado plates, riddled with bullets, careening toward the port of entry, seeking protection.

The driver, José Carreon, 43, was dead, his facial structure destroyed by the bullets. The front seat passenger, Nestor Acosta Saenz, 41, had been reaching over the body to drive and steer, officials said.

A third passenger, Jose Guerrero Peña, 46, was dead, and a fourth, José Joaquin Saenz, 50, was hit in the leg and transported to Thomason Hospital in El Paso, Cobos said.

These men are not the first to seek refuge in the United States to escape an attack.

Just two weeks ago, three men were killed and one wounded in a shooting at a Palomas tire shop. The wounded man was taken to the border crossing and transported to Thomason Hospital.

"The level of violence appears to be increasing in the Palomas area. It is of great concern to us because it affects tourism and a lot of people live on tourism here," Sheriff Cobos said. "I can't imagine how hard it must be for law-abiding citizens in Palomas right now."

A week and a half ago, his deputies chased a stolen vehicle loaded with marijuana through two counties at speeds reaching 110 miles per hour, he said.

Columbus residents have watched Palomas' drug traffickers and migrant smugglers grow more daring and violent as U.S. law enforcement officials have tightened border security.

"It is scary. It is just three miles (between Palomas and Columbus). You go to Palomas to eat and stuff," said Eduardo Gutierrez, who works at Pancho Villa Cafe in Columbus.

Based on the investigation of the wreck and an interview of the uninjured survivor, Sheriff Cobos pieced together what happened in Palomas this morning.

"It appeared that the gunman was shooting at the windshield and along the driver side with an assault rifle. When the shooting started, the front passenger crawled over to the back, trying to get away from the bullets," Cobos said.

That man was fatally wounded. A back seat passenger crawled to the front and drove the vehicle to the port of entry over the corpse of the driver.

"Nobody seems to want to tell us anything about the gunman," Cobos said.

Cobos' investigation is limited to the U.S. side because he has no jurisdiction in Mexico.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/search/ci_5838510

Sounds like Al Capones Chicago in the 30's, only 100 times worse.