Border crossing shut following shooting

AP ^ | 5/18/2006

[Ladycalif]

SAN DIEGO - A busy U.S-Mexico border crossing was shut down Thursday after U.S. authorities shot and killed the driver of a car headed for Mexico, officials said.

The shooting occurred on southbound Interstate 5 around 3:30 p.m. about 50 feet north of the San Ysidro Port of Entry, the world's busiest border crossing, which links Tijuana, Mexico, with San Diego.

The driver, who not immediately identified, was pronounced dead at the scene with multiple gunshot wounds, said Maurice Luque, a spokesman for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents began following a black SUV after a citizen reported seeing the vehicle pick up suspected illegal immigrants near the U.S. side of the border, police said.

As traffic backed up near the border, the vehicle stopped on the shoulder. When agents approached, the suspect began to drive off, said police Lt. Kevin Rooney. Two agents then opened fire.

Five passengers in the vehicle, whose identities were not released, were taken into custody and were being interrogated, Rooney said.

The black Dodge Durango sat in the middle of the road late Thursday with a shattered driver's side window. The California Highway Patrol sealed off southbound access to the border and rush-hour traffic was backed up over a mile. Police redirected drivers to a nearby crossing.

Anna Valderrama, of Tijuana, who was about four vehicles back when the shooting occurred, said she regularly crosses the border and had never seen any such a disturbance.

"I was going to eat with my family," said Valderrama, stuck in her car for over two hours. "I feel desperate to go home."

[Ladycalif]

More:

Shooting shuts busy border crossing From correspondents in Tijuana, Mexico May 19, 2006 TRAFFIC into Mexico from the US through the world's busiest land border crossing was blocked for several hours after US authorities shot and killed a driver who refused to stop.

Mexican news reports said US authorities shot dead a driver heading into Mexico at the San Ysidro border post linking San Diego with the Mexican border city of Tijuana after he refused to stop and hit a border guard standing in his way.

The Televisa network said four passengers were arrested.

Television stations showed long traffic jams north of the crossing, through which more than 17 million vehicles and 41 million people entered the US last year.

The border crossing is also a key transit point for drug traffickers and smugglers of immigrants.

[Ladycalif]

few more details...

[Liberty Valance]

PHMIF

[Liberty Valance]

[janetgreen]

One less amnesty/welfare recipient we'll have to worry about.

[Ladycalif]

Now if we can just get them on the way in...lol

[television is just wrong]

Unfortunately, the country of Mexico has killed any sympathy held for their nationals previously felt by most of the legal residents and citizens in the U.S.

[muglywump]

.....Bush's fault.....

[Constantine XI Palaeologus]

Is the Orwell quote real? I sometimes have difficulty distinguishing real photos from well-done photoshopping.

Any word on whether it was a drug smuggler or other criminal? (although I can't see how it'd be otherwise)

[Ladycalif]

Yes it is real, painted on the border fence.

No other details.

[ClancyJ]

Gee, we kill them because they leave? Is that the democrat immigration plan?

[kinoxi]

East Germany did it for a while. The dems ideological roots.

[DanielLongo]

Couldn't be a Democrat plan silly. They throw money - they don't shoot bullets. Of course maybe they were trying to kill the SUV. Now that makes more sense. Yes, they were Democrats. Sorry for jumping to conclusions.

[Paladin2]

That is a good point as the evil SUV's window was hit first. The driver would be just collateral damage.

[ClancyJ]

Well you know they hate those gas guzzlers. And, it just proves our beliefs - if they ever get rid of us having guns, they will still be able to shoot "U.S. exiting SUV's".

[hershey]

The ACLU and Mexico will sue.

[hershey]

You're a racist fool. Go wash your mouth out with soap.

[Larousse2]

I was listening to CNN when this story broke last night.

They reported last night on CNN that the vehicle had tried to run over, or mow down, the Border Patrol Officer(s), which then resulted in the shooting.

SPIN, SPIN, SPIN!

On CNN this morning, there was absolutely NO MENTION of the vehicle trying to run down the Border Patrol Officer(s).

I am not, repeat NOT, having auditory hallucinations!