3 Encinitas Teens Held in Gun Attack on Aliens

Sheriff’s deputies said Friday that they have arrested three local teen-agers on suspicion of attempted murder after they dressed in camouflage uniforms and allegedly attacked a group of aliens with guns, wounding one.

The incident occurred Tuesday in Encinitas, a middle-class beachfront community north of San Diego, and was confirmed by Sheriff’s Deputy George Gardner of the Encinitas substation. There have been several recent confrontations in northern San Diego County between local residents and illegal aliens who work on farms in the area, but Gardner said this was the first shooting incident in Encinitas.

Encinitas Councilwoman Ann Omsted said the attack probably was motivated by “racist” feelings against illegal aliens. Other community leaders expressed fears that the incident may indicate rising violence against aliens.

Three 17-Year-Olds

Three Encinitas youths, all 17 years old, were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and various gun-related charges in the incident. The three were taken to Juvenile Hall, where they were being held Friday. Police did not identify the suspects because they are minors.

The youths are Anglo, and the victims are Latino. One of the aliens was wounded slightly in the foot, treated at a hospital and released.

Encinitas, a city of 49,000, is bisected by Interstate 5. According to a police report on the incident, the youths were hiding in the brush on the west side of the freeway when they opened fire on a group of six aliens who were eating lunch on a hillside on the other side of the highway.

Gardner said the armed teen-agers then walked across a bridge over the freeway on Requeza Avenue and charged at the startled aliens, firing at them with a .22-caliber rifle, a .22-caliber handgun and a pellet gun. The aliens scattered but then turned back their attackers with a barrage of rocks, Gardner said. The youths were arrested a short time later by deputies summoned by an anonymous caller.

‘Fear and Discomfort’

“That’s exactly the sort of thing I thought could happen. . . . What if some other nutty kids go out there and do it again? We have in this community a great deal of fear and discomfort at the visible presence of so many undocumented workers,” Omsted said.

The councilwoman, who is organizing a task force to study the impact of illegal aliens on the city, said there is a “real pervasive uneasiness” among Encinitas residents over the aliens’ presence. She said the uneasiness is manifesting itself in racism directed against longtime Latino residents of the city and added that she was not surprised by the shooting.

“There’s a real danger that people who are emotionally upset by the undocumented aliens will start labeling all Latinos as bad. . . . Some of the letters that have appeared in our community paper are blatantly racist. Some members of the Anglo community are beginning to feel that it’s OK, and feel comfortable, about saying careless things about Latinos,” she said.