Police Link Border Killing to Theft Ring : Crime: U.S. resident shot by police was allegedly part of a group that robbed Mexican aliens.

A 22-year-old man shot and killed by police near the Mexican border Wednesday night was identified Thursday as part of a robbery ring of U.S. residents that prey on illegal aliens, a police spokesman said.

The man’s death marked the first fatal shooting by San Diego police in 1991.

Roger Varela, no known address, was killed when a police bullet passed through his arm and entered his chest, homicide Lt. Dan Berglund said. A 16-year-old youth, an alleged accomplice in the robbery, was shot in the right calf and taken to the Chula Vista Community Hospital where he was treated and released.

Sgt. Robert Kanaski, 34, an 11-year police veteran, and Jaime Conti, 30, with six years on the force, were identified as the officers who fired the eight rounds at the two men, Berglund said. It was not clear which officer fired the fatal shots, he added.

Both men were placed on administrative duty pending an investigation into the shooting in accordance with departmental policy.

The two officers were among 10 Police Department Border Crime Intervention Unit members conducting a surveillance Wednesday night of an area a half mile south of Dairy Mart Road and Servando Avenue, near the Tijuana River, where a number of robberies of aliens have been reported, a police spokesman said.

Kanaski and Conti were following a group of aliens north through the brush about 8:30 p.m. when the aliens were confronted by nine men claiming to be police officers, Berglund said. The men began cursing, then beating and kicking the aliens, he said.

The two officers confronted the men when one turned and pointed what appeared to be an M-16 rifle at the officers, Berglund said. Kanaski and Conti fired eight rounds killing Varela, who was shot at least twice, and injuring the 16-year-old, Berglund said.

Police found two tire irons, a large hammer, a baseball bat, a knife and two M-16 rifle replicas that apparently belonged to the robbers at the scene, he said.

One of the M-16 replicas was a toy and the other was possibly a BB-rifle. Berglund said Varela was armed with one of the replica rifles when he was killed.

The Border Crime Intervention Unit arrested six 16- to 17-year-olds at the scene, including the injured teen-ager and Varela’s 17-year-old brother, Berglund said.

Another teen-ager escaped but was later arrested by sheriff’s deputies at his Imperial Beach home. The names and addresses of the youths were withheld, but Berglund said all were from the South Bay area.

Also arrested were Tony Lanham, 19, and David McLintock, 19, no addresses given, Berglund said. Both men, as well as Varela, were identified as U.S. citizens.

Lanham and McLintock were being held without bail in County Jail downtown on single murder counts and eight robbery counts pending their arraignments today in Superior Court, a jail spokeswoman said.

The murder counts stem from a death caused by the mens’ involvement in a felony act, Berglund said.

Although thieves have long roamed the border strip seeking to rob undocumented immigrants, authorities say that most of the culprits have been Tijuana-based thugs. Suspected thieves murdered at least nine people in the border area of San Diego last year, police say.

But Wednesday’s shooting marks at least the second time in six months that San Diego police have arrested U.S. residents and charged them with robbing border-jumpers, who are often defenseless to defend themselves from armed attackers.