A U.S. Border Patrol agent was shot at 11
times near Sonoita during a string of smuggling-related
incidents but escaped injury, authorities said.
On Wednesday morning, the unidentified agent was
following a truck that had a felony alert on it from
Bisbee police, who wanted to question the driver.
Before the agent could turn on emergency lights, the
truck made a U-turn and headed toward Mexico.
Other agents, who were trying to assist, encountered
two more northbound pickups, which also turned around
and headed toward Mexico.
The first agent, following the pickup with the felony
alert, encountered a fourth pickup parked just north of
the border. As the agent approached the truck, occupants
fired 11 shots with an assault rifle and a handgun.
As the agent tried to head for safety, a fifth pickup
deliberately slammed his marked patrol car, then fled
into Mexico.
Three pickups made it to Mexico. Another
pickup was intercepted by a Border Patrol
helicopter about a quarter-mile north of the border. Its
occupants abandoned it and fled across the border.
The pickup from which the shots were fired, which was
reported stolen in Scottsdale, blew a tire about a mile
north of the border and was abandoned.
The occupants fled. Agents seized 325 pounds of
marijuana from the abandoned trucks.
(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press.
All Rights Reserved.)
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