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Tucson Region

Suspect rams agent's truck, injuring him

In separate incidents, 4 border agents fired on, 3 bodies found in desert
By Dale Quinn
arizona daily star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 08.28.2007
A U.S. Border Patrol agent's leg was injured when a suspected marijuana smuggler slammed into his patrol vehicle Sunday afternoon, officials said.
In another incident Sunday night, unknown assailants fired on four agents near the Mexican border, they said.
Officials also said three bodies have been recovered in the desert since Friday.
The suspected smuggler, an illegal entrant, was arrested after evading Border Patrol agents for more than an hour, according to a U.S. Border Patrol press release. More than 1,100 pounds of marijuana were found in the stolen truck the man was driving.
Agents in the Yuma Sector noticed the truck pulled off the side of a highway near Gila Bend about 1:30 p.m. and approached it.
The truck sped away, forcing the agents to end the pursuit and contact other agents at the Ajo Border Patrol station in the Tucson Sector, according to the release.
An Ajo agent spotted the truck parked in a wash and again approached it. The agent called for backup after noticing marijuana in the truck's bed before it again sped away.
Another agent who responded saw the truck and was about to begin a search on foot when the truck emerged from his blind spot, striking his patrol vehicle and injuring him.
The suspect was taken into custody after a pursuit on foot and a brief struggle.
In the shooting incident, agents were patrolling near Lochiel, about 20 miles east of Nogales, about 10:30 p.m. Sunday when someone fired four shots at them, said Agent Sean King, a Tucson sector Border Patrol spokesman.
None of the agents were injured.
The agents had responded after a sensor sounded an alarm at a Border Patrol station, King said. They left their vehicles and began to patrol on foot.
The agents had walked about one-quarter of a mile when three pickups began to approach their patrol vehicles. As they headed back to the vehicles, someone fired four shots at them and they took cover.
The agents were unable to locate a shooter, King said. They radioed for help and two Border Patrol helicopters and a special response team were sent to the scene.
In the meantime, three more shots were fired.
The helicopters and additional agents then arrived, and the agents were able to return to their vehicles.
Neither the pickup trucks that approached the Border Patrol vehicles nor any shooter was found, King said.
Border Patrol agents also recovered the bodies of two suspected illegal entrants Friday, King said.
A man who illegally entered the United States returned to Mexico and told Mexican officials his cousin had died in the desert.
He was allowed to return to the U.S. and guided Border Patrol agents to the body of a Oaxaca, Mexico, man he said was in his early 20s. The body was found about 23 miles north of the border near Topawa on the Tohono O'odham Nation.
An agent on patrol found the body of a second suspected illegal entrant Friday nightabout 13 miles north of the border along Federal Route 21 on the Tohono O'odham Nation, King said. The man appeared to be in his late 20s and carried no identification.
On Sunday evening, Pima County sheriff's deputies responded to a report of a decomposing body found north of Ryan Airfield, said Lt. Michael O'Connor.
A man riding a dirt bike found the body and guided deputies to him. The man had no identification and investigators are unsure about his identity.
He was found in an area frequently used by illegal entrants.
● Contact reporter Dale Quinn at 629-9412 or dquinn@azstarnet.com.
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