Alien smuggling suspect shoots at Ariz. Border Patrol officers
Associated Press

PHOENIX - U.S. Border Patrol agents were fired on by a suspected immigrant smuggler west of Yuma Tuesday night, officials said.

The gunfire came at the end of a 20-mile chase of a motorhome packed with illegal immigrants, U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Michael Gramley said.

The incident began about 10 p.m. Tuesday when a citizen called in a tip about a large group of apparent immigrants who were seen getting in the motor home several miles west of Yuma. Agents tried to stop the motor home as it drove west on Interstate 8 near Andrade, Calif., but the driver wouldn't stop until the tires were flattened by a spike strip after about 20 miles.

As the vehicle stopped, the driver reportedly fired one shot from a pistol at the agents, striking the rear tail light of a Border Patrol vehicle. The driver and 22 illegal immigrants got out of the motor home and began running. All were captured.

The agents apparently didn't realize they had been fired upon until some of the immigrants warned them.

"As they began apprehending several people fleeing from the vehicle, several of them stated that someone in the vehicle had a gun and had fired a shot,' Gramley said.

The driver was a 26-year-old U.S. citizen from San Diego who wasn't identified. The Border Patrol turned him over to the FBI and will seek unspecified charges.