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Somerton man held in border shooting incident
BY JEFFREY GAUTREAUX, SUN STAFF WRITER
Mar 8, 2006

CONTINUING COVERAGE

A Somerton man may face felony charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and endangerment after a shooting incident Tuesday night that involved a local border watch group.

Lavar James Twist, 25, was ordered held on a bond of $126,059 by Justice of the Peace David Cooper during his initial appearance Wednesday in Yuma Justice Court.

Twist allegedly fired a 9mm handgun toward a vehicle carrying two patrolling members of the Yuma Patriots at 9:08 p.m. near County 14th Street and the West Main Canal, according to the Yuma County Sheriff's Office. It is not known if Twist intentionally shot at the victims or not, YCSO said.

The Patriots said at least two shots were fired at the vehicle and 10 to 12 were fired in total.

Following the gunfire, U.S. Border Patrol agents stopped the vehicle Twist was riding in with two other people. Cocopah Tribal Police responded and located the weapon and some marijuana in the vehicle, according to YCSO.

Twist was booked into Yuma County jail on the aggravated assault and endangerment charges, but he was not booked on any drug charges. Prosecutors have until Friday at 1 p.m. to file formal charges against him.

According to court documents, YCSO found spent shells in the area that matched the handgun. "Two of the subjects stated the suspect had shot the gun. The suspect also admitted to shooting the gun sometimes but not other times," court records said.

The Patriots, Adam and Barbara Sharrar, told law enforcement that the gun was fired in their direction after they announced their presence by turning their vehicle's parking lights on, according to court documents.

"One of the victims stated they were shot at due to problems in the past between members of the Cocopah Indian Tribe and the Yuma Patriots," court records stated.

Jeffrey Gautreaux can be reached at jgautreaux@yumasun.com or 539-6858.