Property owner exchanges gunfire with suspected smugglers

Arizona Daily Star ^ | 18 March 2004 | Michael Marizco

[JackelopeBreeder]

A Cochise County man who fired on a truckload of people crossing his property Wednesday morning near Douglas, escaped unscathed an hour later when the vehicle apparently returned and its occupants shot up his house, officials said.

A 24-foot travel trailer on the property about four miles east of Douglas also was on fire when the unidentified homeowner escaped, said Carol Capas, a spokeswoman for the Cochise County Sheriff's Department.

No one has been arrested.

The homeowner opened fire on the vehicle about 9 a.m. trying to scare it off because he was tired of his property being trekked across by suspected drug smugglers, said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Russell Ahr.

"Apparently, they cross through and he has in the past taken shots at these guys," he said. The man fired three times on the truck, which then turned around and went back into Mexico, he said.

The same vehicle apparently returned an hour later and opened fire on the man's home with an AK-47 rifle and 9-mm gun, he said.

[JackelopeBreeder]

Developing -- more to follow.

[JackelopeBreeder]

Ping!

[cateizgr8]

ping

[thackney]

Bang

and

"stop return fire by improving your aim" ping

[Mr. Lucky]

It's generally not a good idea to shoot at someone you're not willing to kill.

[SpyGuy]

Guess who will get charged for a "crime" by our government? So much for Homeland Security.

[ibbryn]

Yeah, the homeowner is f*cked. Charges, legal fees, loss or freedom, no access to firearms for the rest of his life and a civil suit. Or maybe something nice will happen.

[Jason_b]

Homeland security. Yes indeedy. What a great idea. If I were president, I'd have a stakeout. I'd put the USMC with shoulder lauched missles on that guy's property expecting a truck to come from Mexico. I'd instruct the soldiers to play target practice on that truck. That would be the end of the trucks through there. Then when I hear of trucks moving across other areas, there would be new target practice areas set up in those locations.

[TERMINATTOR]

These poor imigrants are just shooting and burning stuff Americans won't.

[JackelopeBreeder]

I kinda doubt it. All of the local law enforcement agencies know that area is heavy for smuggling and violence. Shootings have gotten quite common just south of the border fence, and are getting more frequent on our side.

The Mexican government has little or no contol over this part of Mexico. The cartels own it and they play by their own rules.

[Citizen Tom Paine]

This post raises several interesting questions in my mind. Where were the local authorities? The Border Patrol? The INS? Weren't the phones working then? My definition of gun control is to hit what I shoot at (generally). And the other thought that pops into my mind is don't shoot an anything that you don't expect to hit.

Irregardless, the Federal, State, and Local governments should stop this s*it. The property owner is a US citizen and as such should be protected from foreign nationals.

[Chewbacca]

This guy needs to learn to always aim first at the radiator, then engine compartment, then tires, then gas tank.

[Centurion2000]

bump

[SpyGuy]

If I were president, I'd have a stakeout.

If I were President, my first official act would be an Executive Order to build a fortified defensive wall between the United States and Mexico to keep out the foreign invaders. I would give the project a one-year schedule, and would post the US military on the border during its construction. I would also militarize the US Border Patrol, folding them and the US Coast Guard into a new branch of the military: the US Border Guard.

Some would draw analogies to the "Iron Curtain" (and indeed, there would be a number of physical similarities). The difference is its purpose. A wall to keep people in makes a prison; a wall to keep people out makes a home.

[wku man]

ROFLMAO!

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

[wku man]

"A wall to keep people in makes a prison; a wall to keep people out makes a home."

So true, so true. This bears repeating often, and loudly.

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

[JackelopeBreeder]

Incidents like this (usually minus the shooting) are a daily occurence here. We only have about three reporters in the county and no local TV stations, so it only makes the news if there's a lot of bullets flying or a lot of blood on the ground.

[AAABEST]

A wall to keep people in makes a prison; a wall to keep people out makes a home.

I like that.

A wall to keep people in makes a prison; a wall to keep people out makes a home.™

[GhostofWCooper]

The guy needs an M-14 and 10 or 12 magazines. Then let em come on with their truck...

We ought to take up a collection and send him a real rifle. If the feds were serious about security they would be issuing surplus rifles to everyone in harm's way down in that mess.

[Missouri]

BUMP.