Encounter between US hunters, Mexican police under investigation

From the El Paso Times - By Daniel Borunda - An emergency call about armed men along the Rio Grande sparked the cross- border encounter between Mexican federal police and U.S. hunters in the Lower Valley last week, a Mexico federal police spokesman said Wednesday. The incident between hunters on the U.S. river levee and Mexican federal police occurred a week ago today near the Zaragoza Bridge on the first day of dove hunting season. Federal police spokesman José Ramón Salinas denied that Mexican officers crossed the border as reported by U.S. Border Patrol officials. A hunter, who asked that his name not be published for safety reasons because he regularly visits Juárez, said it appeared that a shot was fired from the Mexican side before the arrival of the federal police. "I saw the actual rifle round hit between (two of his friends) and pop up dirt. My friend said, 'Did you do that?' We looked at the trajectory and it looked like it came from Mexico," he said. He and his friends took cover behind a vehicle. He said the situation intensified when Mexican police arrived, pointing assault rifles and yelling at another group of hunters downriver. Mexican police "were asking what they were doing there. They were yelling, 'Put down your weapons' or something. I couldn't hear exactly what they were saying. We were too far away," the hunter said. He saw Mexican officers walk down the levee but was unable to see whether they crossed the international boundary in the middle of the river. Arriving at the scene, Border Patrol agents saw Mexican police returning to Mexico after an incursion to the U.S. side, said a Border Patrol spokesman. An investigation continues. Read more

Encounter between US hunters, Mexican police under investigation