Fatal border shooting clogs freeways

SUV driver pinned federal agent, police say
By Pauline Repard and Janine Zúniga
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS
Photo by NANCEE E. LEWIS / Union-Tribune
May 19, 2006

SAN YSIDRO – Federal agents shot and killed the driver of a sport utility vehicle headed for the Mexican border crossing yesterday afternoon, closing freeway lanes and backing up traffic to Chula Vista.

As of 10:30 p.m., the world's busiest land border crossing was still closed to southbound traffic, which was being diverted to the Otay Mesa crossing.
Border Patrol agents had been tracking the black Dodge Durango after a tip to the agency's Smuggling Interdiction Unit that the driver had picked up suspected illegal immigrants near the Otay Mesa crossing on the U.S. side of the border.

Near the San Ysidro crossing, the vehicle pulled to the side of Interstate 5. When agents approached the SUV and ordered the driver out, the vehicle began to move. Police said it pressed a Border Patrol agent against a vehicle in the right lane.