Mexico soldier says slain US man fired at army

Houston Chronicle/AP ^ | August 23, 2010 | SERGIO FLORES and ALEXANDRA OLSON

[SwinneySwitch]

ACAPULCO, Mexico — A Mexican soldier said that a U.S. citizen attacked an army convoy and was killed when troops shot him in self-defense outside the resort city of Acapulco, a police official said. The man's father said Monday that he found it hard to believe.

An army lieutenant told police that Joseph Proctor opened fire on a military convoy with an AR-15 rifle, forcing the soldiers to shoot back, said Domingo Olea, a police investigator in the western state of Guerrero, where Acapulco is located.

Olea provided no further details on Proctor, who was found dead in his car early Sunday.

A Defense Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the case, said the army was investigating the lieutenant's claim. The official said Proctor might have been a passenger in the car, although nobody else was found with him at the scene.

Proctor's father, William Proctor, said he did not know of his son being involved in any illegal activity and did not believe he would have owned a gun or attacked soldiers.

"I doubt that. Joseph had a temper but he didn't use guns," Proctor said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press from his home in Auburn, New York.

William Proctor said Joseph, 32, had lived off and on in Mexico for at least six years. He said his son had been in the process of divorcing his wife in Georgia and lived with a girlfriend and their young son in Mexico. He said he had little contact with his son and was unsure what Joseph did in Mexico but that he had worked in landscaping in the U.S.

He said Joseph had sometimes complained about being pulled over by Mexican security forces looking for bribes.

[Judges Gone Wild]

The Mexican Army has made many incursions into U.S. territory. Some years ago, the Mexican Army interfered when the DEA was chasing drug smugglers, shooting out the tires of the DEA vehicle.

[PowderMonkey]

"Forget about it, Jake. It's Chinatown."


Lived there. Have family still there. Nobody leaves the house without sufficient bribe money. Get stopped by the local cops on a Saturday night to pick up your date? Pay 'em off and go straight home. Game over. Mexico City alone has over 20 different kinds of LEOs. All of them employ the "catch and kill" policy.

[GladesGuru]

Mexico has strict anti=gun laws. There is no way an American would have a legal AR-15 or any other military weapon in Messico.

Unless the deceased was part of an attack, the released story is just despicable.

[UCFRoadWarrior]

I never believe anything coming from that Third World Latrine Pit called Mexico

[Jack Black]

In general if he did get fed up with them, lie in a ditch and try to take out a convoy I salute him for his bravery. They probably deserved someone taking that approach.... should be the Mexicans themselves, though.