San Onofre
A Border Patrol agent shot a Mexican man Saturday along Interstate 5 near the Orange County line when the man threatened to throw a rock at him, authorities said Monday.
The shooting occurred after the driver of a van filled with 17 illegal aliens ran the San Clemente Border Patrol checkpoint around 7:30 p.m. Saturday, a Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman said. Border Patrol agents caught up with the van after it exited at Cristianitos Road and stopped abruptly 100 yards south of the Orange County line. Three men jumped out of the van and began to run.
One of the escapees urged the aliens in the van to run, then picked up a rock and raised his arm as if to throw it at Agent Ritchie Gallagher, a two-year veteran of the Border Patrol, who was guarding the 14 aliens still in the van, the spokeswoman said.
“Gallagher, fearing for his safety, drew his gun and fired three times,” the spokeswoman said. “The suspect was hit once in the left thigh.”
The suspect, David Medina Becerra, was treated at San Clemente Hospital and released, then booked into the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown San Diego on a charge of assaulting a federal officer.
Border Patrol Assistant Chief Robert Gilson said 16 illegal aliens, including Medina, were apprehended, and one alien escaped.
The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the shooting.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
