Posted on 01/24/2006 11:16:12 PM PST by llevrok
Shootout closes Peace Arch border crossing Last Updated Tue, 24 Jan 2006 23:47:40 EST CBC News
A police chase at the Canada-U.S. border forced the closure of the Peace Arch border crossing south of Vancouver on Tuesday.
It also caused dozens of Canadian guards to walk off the job, fearing for their safety.
The incident started when two men, both murder suspects, tried to get into Canada. Officials say the two men, 38-year-old Ishtiaq Hussain and 22-year-old Jose Antonio Barajas, are now in custody. They are wanted on murder charges in California.
But the arrest didn't come easy. One of the suspects was wounded in a shootout with police.
U.S. sheriffs say the pair managed to make it to the check point about a metre before Canadian soil.
"They [drove] through the border and they almost struck two uniformed officers," said Bill Elf, of the Whatcom County Sheriff's Department.
The suspects continued northbound and struck the Peace Arch itself at one point.
Witness Bill Whittle didn't see the ensuing gunfight but he heard it. "I heard about seven or eight gunshots on the other side of the Peace Arch," he said. "One of [the suspects] was shot. [The police] got him out of the car."
Officials credit a brave deputy sheriff for single-handedly stopping the pair, who were considered armed and dangerous.
CBC News has learned that when unarmed Canadian border guards found out the murder suspects were coming their way they left their posts at four crossings along the B.C. border. Only two supervisors were left at each crossing to protect the Canadian side.
A spokeswoman with Canada Border Services says the guards have the legal right to refuse to work if they believe they are in imminent danger.
In their defense, Canadian Customs officers have been trying to get firearms for many, many years. Everytime the work-place safety committee says they should, and then everytime idiots in Ottawa turn them down. Hopefully the new Conservative government will think more clearly on this subject.
Are there any men in Canada left with the equipment that makes one a male?
What's the matter, do they want to live forever? ...in Canada?
---In their defense, Canadian Customs officers have been trying to get firearms for many, many years. ---
No guns? That's insane!
If you say yes, you're not brave...you're stupid.
L
In all fairness no, however I sure wouldn't take the job knowing I would not have the tools to do that job
Well..yeah. It is. The Liberal government was told on numerous occasions that the border was dangerous, and that the customs guys should be armed. They were willing to provide body armour, and collapsable batons, but nothing else. The reasons were, of course, stupid.
1. (This will make American Freepers furious!) The American Border service is already there, and are armed. The Americans can support our customs people if they hit the soup.
2. Well, we already have the RCMP. If there's a problem, we'll have them respond. The RCMP is sometimes 30kms or more away, and they aren't going to raise shot customs guys from the dead.
3. What sort of impression do we want to make on vistors to our friendly, open country? Not people with icky, *American-style* guns! Let's use this as a chance to stress how un-American we are to vistors (and save some bucks on training and equipment purchasing.)
These were also the people who made decisions about military purchasing and deployment. The rationele never changed, and as far as I'm concerned they have blood on their hands.
Agreed, we should be fair. It isn't the Canadian Custom officer's fault, the blame rests squarely on the previous regime in Ottowa. One would hope that the incoming Mr. Harper has been made aware of this, and takes the necessary measures...
the infowarrior
I talked to a Candadian border guard once while crossing the border. She was a real spunky thing. She made me take off my sunglasses for no good reason.
At least you don't have to wonder about the religion of one of them.
L
38-year-old Ishtiaq Hussain and 22-year-old Jose Antonio Barajas
Doubt it. I'm sitting here wondering about the "association" that the above names represent. Very interesting; and predicted.
Terrorist "suspects" struck the Peace Arch itself while roaring through the unarmed guards while fleeing into Canada from the United States. DC, we have a problem with our future Northern co-state.
You're most likely right. It's likely Jose is Catholic.
Welcome to the socialist utopia.
No, they were coming FROM Canada. I can't get any further information from that source.
Terrorists from Canada? Surely not. All the best OBLs tell us it's impossible.
A solution may be a armed guard crossing point in US territory a mile or so from the border.
BINGO!
This story proves several things:
1.) Canadian government is incompetent for disarming their border patrol.
2.) The Minutemen Project here in America has every single right to exist.
3.) Canadian officers ARE cowards for "running away." How does one get up in the morning knowing that he fled the scene as a cold blooded killer escapes to continue his mayhem elsewhere?
4.) If the MSM snubs this story, then it will further prove their bias against the American people. We the people have a right to know about potential terrorists coming into our nation while Canada essentially refuses to stop them.
In all fairness, incidents like this are rare on the US/Canada border.
Get a grip.
American border guards are armed and Canadians aren't.
So what, there is only one highway leading north from the US border and there are three police forces within the first fifteen miles including the RCMP.
These idiots would have been stopped with one road block before they got five miles into Canada.
Canada customs staff are trained to detect contraband not take a bullet from two murder suspects FROM THE US making a run for the Canadian border who stand zero chance of making it across.
Right, so Canadian border official told by their own government to give up their firearms and to guard the border without a firearm is a coward.
4.) If the MSM snubs this story, then it will further prove their bias against the American people. We the people have a right to know about potential terrorists coming into our nation while Canada essentially refuses to stop them.
Screw the media. I don't need the media to tell me that I need to protect myself. Your comment that "Canada essentially refuses to stop them" is disengenious at best, and a myth. It's not that they refuse to stop them, the immigration system in Canada is simply broken down, that's the reality. There are so many immigrants being processed in the Canadian customs that many are given hearings and most of the ones who have a criminal record don't bother to show up and just simply disappear into the crowd. It's not until incidents like this border incident that they suddenly pop up.
A criminal brew from south of the border and across the sea. From south of the border.
"Let's be fair here. Would you stay at your post when there are two known, armed murderers heading your way and you have no weapons?"
I would have left the job when they told me I would be an unarmed cop to start with.
That is beyond stupid.
Whimps!!
Right, one came from Mexico and the other was obviously Islamic. Both trying to get into Canada illegally, and we're blaming the Canadian officials for being unarmed, when they clearly went undetected in our own country.
I was detained and 'interrogated' as to why I had a NRA sticker on a side window of my vehicle.
"Right, so Canadian border official told by their own government to give up their firearms and to guard the border without a firearm is a coward."
Potato, potato. Safeguarding one's nation is clearly important so long as no one threatens me or the citizens I am sworn to protect, right? If I were one of the guards, I would have stayed at my post.
4.) If the MSM snubs this story, then it will further prove their bias against the American people. We the people have a right to know about potential terrorists coming into our nation while Canada essentially refuses to stop them.
"It's not that they refuse to stop them, the immigration system in Canada is simply broken down, that's the reality."
Thanks, I will sleep better tonight knowing that.
If you bothered to read the article you might have read this:
The incident started when two men, both murder suspects, tried to get into Canada.
This can be one of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's first initiatives, put firearms into the hands of Canadian Customs officers protecting the border and make it clear that *criminals* who attempt to force their way in, by crashing, speeding, shooting, etc., will be fired upon, and if maimed or killed, are responsible for their own criminal actions. The Chretien/Martin 12 year LIEberal regime has been slain, this is a great way to drive the point home.
There is a reason the liberals want to disarm....
Think about it.
If you were unarmed, your shorts would probably have to catch the next bus out of town as you left. On the other hand, if you stayed at your post unarmed, you deserved to be shot at.
Now that's a helpful philosophy for the unarmed citizens of Canada who will inherit the threat that the border guards run away from.
They were just trying to deport themselves.
Maybe they actually purchased guns for the guards from surplus British stocks, but on the voyage over.....
Wanted for murder in California. If my geography is correct, California is in the US and not Canada.
I can't think of a better example for the new government to cite when deciding to arm the guards.
Are you SURE the Tories aren't paying Carl Rove a consulting fee?
Disgusting.
"If you were unarmed, your shorts would probably have to catch the next bus out of town as you left. On the other hand, if you stayed at your post unarmed, you deserved to be shot at."
You make this ugly with your personal attacks, which are both unnecessary and childish.
You have indicated that had you been in that particular position, you would have fled your post.
Some people find behavior like this to be cowardly.
I am a member of the US military, sworn to defend the society that I live in.
I could never live with myself if I fled from an opportunity to stop someone who has intentions of creating mayhem among the very citizens I am sworn to protect.
You clearly have no problem with running away.
This is where we differ, so keep your personal attacks to yourself, please.
John 10:11
John 15:13
If Canada feels more secure knowing that the American guards are armed, and they would handle things if need be, why not trust your own guards to be armed also ?
I'm not bashing the Canadian guards, but that thinking makes no sense to me.
Frankly, I don't give a rip if reality bothers you.
You clearly have no problem with running away.
On the contrary. You have a problem with reality. If I was told I was going to guard a post unarmed, I wouldn't take the job. I'd be looking for some other line of work.
Guess I'm just dense or something. I always thought a guard was supposed to guard you and not run away. Oh well, maybe the new government will go back and correct a few definitions in the Standard Canadian Dictionary and bring it more in line with Webster's.
Nam Vet
"I'd be looking for some other line of work."
Just stay out of the US Army, and I will be happy for the rest of my life.
Not to mention a couple of people trying to flee via the NORTHERN border. Do we dare assume that Mexico is actually watching for Islamists attempting to go back south?
And the ages are odd...a thirty-eight year old? Some sort of leader? Many have predicted and warned that gangs would be merging with terrorists...
Look if you enter Canada on the I5 there are no exits for many miles.
Even if American guards were not armed there would be nowhere these two idiots could go without facing a roadblock they couldn't escape.
The fact is the BC/Washington border is the most peaceful border crossing in the world. Two psycho murder suspects from California do not change that fact.
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