Border Patrolman Accidentally Shot by Fellow Officer

A border patrol agent in the process of arresting three illegal aliens in a rugged border area in the 2 a.m. darkness Sunday was shot and wounded by a fellow agent who thought he had come across a robbery in progress.

Augustin Diaz, a four-year border patrol veteran, was wounded in the leg and abdomen by three bullets. He was in stable condition at Mercy Hospital following four hours of surgery.

The name of the agent who fired the shots was not released.

Border Patrol spokesman Wayne Kirkpatrick said the shooting occurred in Tree Canyon, a brush-covered area located about three-quarters of a mile northeast of Brown Field and some two miles north of the Otay Mesa border crossing.

Kirkpatrick said Diaz was arresting three men who had allegedly crossed the border illegally when the second agent appeared. Both men were in uniform.

“The (second) agent observed what he believed to be an armed robbery in progress, with the three men lying face down on the ground and (Diaz) standing over them,” Kirkpatrick said. “It was very, very dark--we don’t exactly have street lighting out there--and unfortunately we had a case of mistaken identity. As a result, shots rang out and Agent Diaz was hit and went down.”

Diaz was taken by a LifeFlight helicopter to Mercy Hospital. Kirkpatrick said one bullet passed through the agent’s stomach and colon and lodged in his kidney, another injured his left thigh and the third shattered an ankle bone.

Details of the late-night episode were sketchy Sunday. It was unclear what precipitated the exchange of gunfire or whether Diaz had even used his gun, Kirkpatrick said.

The spokesman speculated that the second agent, hindered by the darkness, “most assuredly” mistook Diaz for a bandit. He noted that Tree Canyon has been the site of frequent armed robberies in the past several years. A special task force--the Border Crime Prevention Unit-- was formed to deal specifically with the problem of bandits preying upon illegal immigrants making their way through the remote area.

The canyon and surrounding area is also frequently used by drug smugglers and is routinely patrolled by agents as part of Operation Alliance--the combined federal, state and local effort to impede the flow of narcotics across the U.S.-Mexican border.

Sunday’s shooting will be investigated by the FBI and the Border Patrol’s Office of Professional Responsibility, an internal affairs division, Kirkpatrick said. A San Diego police spokesman said the Police Department also will dispatch a detective to investigate because the shooting occurred within city limits.

The unidentified agent, who, like Diaz, is assigned to the Brown Field station, will remain on duty pending the investigation but will undergo counseling, Kirkpatrick said.

The spokesman called the shooting “most unfortunate” and said he could not recall a similar episode during his 11-years with the Border Patrol.

“There are enough criminal types out there that do exchange shots with law enforcement personnel,” Kirkpatrick said. “It’s a real shame that a mix-up like this has to happen.”

The three aliens detained by Diaz escaped.