Border Patrolman Wounded, Suspect Slain in Shoot-Out

A suspected border bandit was slain and a Border Patrol agent was shot five times but survived Saturday night in the eighth shoot-out this year in the rugged canyons along the international border.

San Diego police officer Sherry Edwards said the gun battle occurred at 11:25 about a half-mile east of the port of entry and a quarter-mile north of the border fence. Two Border Patrol agents and one San Diego police officer, members of the combined Border Crimes Prevention Unit, exchanged numerous shots with three suspected bandits thought to be preying on illegal aliens crossing into the United States, Edwards said.

Border Patrol supervisory agent Fred Stevens was wounded, but his two companions escaped injury. One suspected bandit was killed, another was captured and a third escaped into Mexico, police said. Police recovered a .357 magnum revolver near the dead man’s body and a .22-caliber revolver was taken from the man who was captured.

Stevens, 39, was saved by his armored vest, said Border Patrol spokesman Gene Smithburg. Stevens, an eight-year veteran, was hit twice in the chest with bullets fired from the .357 magnum but the rounds were stopped by the vest.

Other rounds struck Stevens in the left wrist, hip and groin--said Smithburg. A spokeswoman at UC San Diego Medical Center said Sunday that Stevens was in good condition and on his way to recovery.

“The violence down there is just getting out of hand. It’s a war zone down there,” Smithburg said. “The level of violence directed against aliens and our officers is gruesome. The bandits are out there in the canyons because the aliens are easy prey at night. We estimate that we only encounter about 10% to 20% of the aliens victimized by the bandits.”

The dead man was identified by the coroner’s office as Julio Arroyo Zaragoza, 33, of Mexico City. A coroner’s spokesman said Zaragoza died at the scene from multiple gunshot wounds. The captured suspect, who was taken to County Jail, was identified by sheriff’s Lt. Dennis Cole as Jaime Arroyo Zaragoza, 18, from Tijuana. Police said they were uncertain if the two men were related.

Smithburg said the combined border task force has been involved in eight shoot-outs with suspected bandits since the first of the year. Five suspects have died in the shoot-outs and three Border Patrol agents have been wounded. There have been no deaths among task force members and no San Diego police officers have been wounded. The first two agents wounded in the shoot-outs have not returned to the task force but are back on duty, said Smithburg.

According to Border Patrol and police accounts of Saturday’s shooting, Stevens, agent John Crocitto and officer Cesar Solis spotted three men on top of a ridge acting suspiciously. As the officers walked toward the men Jaime Arroyo approached Solis, talking to him in Spanish. When Arroyo saw that Solis was a policeman, he began running toward Mexico.

The three officers gave chase and caught Arroyo, who “resisted violently,” said police. While Solis and Crocitto were handcuffing Arroyo, Stevens, who had his service revolver drawn, provided cover.

Suddenly, two men leaped from the bushes and began firing at the Americans from about six feet away, said police. Stevens was hit almost immediately but returned fire, as did Solis and Crocitto, who were lying on top of the handcuffed Arroyo. Police and Border Patrol spokesmen said Sunday they did not know how many shots were exchanged.

Julio Arroyo was hit several times and his body rolled down about 100 feet into a canyon. Stevens was airlifted out by helicopter and in the confusion the third suspect escaped into Mexico, said police. After the shooting the Border Patrol rounded up dozens of aliens hiding the canyons for questioning but failed to locate the third suspect.

The Border Crimes Prevention Unit has been in operation since January, 1984, and works on the U.S. side of the border at night in a two-mile stretch that runs roughly from the port of entry east to the Tijuana Airport. The task force operates nightly in two teams comprised of three Border Patrol agents, three San Diego police officers and a supervisor from each law enforcement group with each team.

A similar unit comprised entirely of San Diego police officers operated in the same canyons for 18 months between 1976 and 1978. The group, called the Border Alien Robbery Force, or BARF, dressed up like aliens and engaged in numerous shoot-outs with bandits and Mexican police who crossed the border to rob aliens.

However, BARF was disbanded after Chief William Kolander determined that the duty was too dangerous. The unit became the subject of a book written by Joseph Wambaugh and titled “Lines and Shadows.”

Task force members are there only to protect illegal aliens from border bandits as they attempt to enter the U.S. illegally. While members routinely encounter illegal aliens and question them about bandit activity, the task force does not arrest aliens. Border Patrol Chief Agent Alan Eliason wryly noted that the task force is “essentially there to make it easier for aliens to break the law.”

“The unit’s only function is to prevent crimes against these people. We are there to make it easier for them to enter the United States illegally by trying to stop the growing number of robberies, rapes, murders, assaults and other crimes committed against them. Such is the nature of the border these days,” Eliason said.

San Diego Police Sgt. Chuck Woodruff, a member of the task force, said there are some police and city officials who do not agree with the task force’s mission.

“Some members of the department and city government feel that it isn’t our problem. But, my God, there were almost 500 reported victims of crime out there last year. I feel that because it’s happening in our back yard, we should be out there. The fact that it’s happening to illegal aliens is immaterial,” Woodruff said.

Police said that in 1984 there were 491 acts of violence against victims on the border, including rapes, robberies and murders. Between Jan. 1 and April 10 of this year, police reported 96 acts of violence in the same area. But while there were 13 reported rapes in 1984, only one rape has been reported this year.

Woodruff said that since 1974, a total of 42 illegal aliens have been murdered by bandits in the canyon border. Only eight suspects have been arrested and many of the victims are still listed as John Does.

Woodruff and other law enforcement officials said that the use of firearms by bandits is rare. The most common weapons used against aliens are knives, steel reinforcement bars, sticks and rocks. Typically, a group of three bandits will hide in the bushes and ambush the aliens as they walk down a canyon trail.

“The bandits jump out of the bushes and beat the nearest alien, without warning and usually with a reinforcement bar. This is meant to convince the group that the bandits mean business. They get scared and become cooperative. The bandits make them strip off their clothes, men and women, and take their money and valuables. These guys aren’t dumb. It’s common knowledge that these poor people attempt to hide their money and valuables in their bras and underclothes,” said Woodruff.

Woodruff and Eliason spoke at weekend conference on border violence held this weekend in Mexicali between U.S. and Mexican lawmen. While both groups agree that border violence is a serious issue, they disagree on the level of violence perpetrated against aliens and what causes it.

U.S. officials said the growing number of illegal aliens entering this country through Tijuana is contributing to what they say is escalating violence against aliens committed by Mexican border bandits who prey on a larger pool of victims. American lawmen also say that the bandits operate in organized groups.

Mexican lawmen say they do not think that the growing number of aliens contributes to an increase in violence. They also say that border violence is sporadic and spontaneous and not a result of organized banditry.

Despite arguments that border violence is increasing and up to 90% of the crimes against aliens go unreported, U.S. officials said there are no immediate plans to expand the size of the border crime unit.