Posted on 03/03/2006 6:43:55 PM PST by Mulder
EL PASO, Texas (AP) - A U.S. Border Patrol agent in El Paso shot at a group of people hurling rocks at him from across the Rio Grande on Thursday. No one was injured.
Robert Boatright, assistant chief patrol agent for the Border Patrol in El Paso, said the group of suspected illegal immigrants threw the rocks after running back across the river from the United States when they spotted the agent. They threw the rocks from about 25 yards away.
The agent, who Boatright did not identify, fired at least once.
Ciudad Juarez police officers went to the area but did not find anyone, Boatright said.
Thursday's confrontation, reported in the midst of the federal trial of two agents accused of unlawfully shooting a suspected drug smuggler and trying to hide the crime last year, is one more example of the rising danger along the U.S.-Mexico border, Boatright said. More than 770 assaults were reported last fiscal year, compared with just 396 in 2004.
The incident also coincided with a U.S. Senate hearing about increasing violence along the border.
So-called "rockings," as Border Patrol officials describe incidents like Thursday's, have become so prevalent in recent years that the federal agency has erected high-impact plastic glass barriers in spots along the Rio Grande where agents can park their vehicles in and around El Paso. Agents in some parts of the border are even starting to see "flaming rocks" - rocks wrapped in cloth, soaked in alcohol and lit on fire.
"We've had rock assaults where there was certainly sufficient velocity to break a windshield," Boatright said.
"Nobody did get hurt today but rocks can cause severe damage to someone's skull or face."
The war on the border escalates....
>A U.S. Border Patrol agent in El Paso shot at a group of people hurling rocks at him from across the Rio Grande on Thursday. No one was injured.
The Border Patrol agent needs to go back to the shooting range and practice on hitting a target.
"We've had rock assaults where there was certainly sufficient velocity to break a windshield," Boatright said.
"Nobody did get hurt today but rocks can cause severe damage to someone's skull or face."
Boatright, is an idiot.
Time to call a special meeting of the Ernest T. Bass Rock Chuckin Society to counter this attack on the CONUS !
Now where did I leave the plans for that trebuchet ??!?!
Never bring rocks to a gun fight.
Once again, GWB's fault.
The agent should have been shooting back with Ma Duce.
You bring rocks, we choose to use the M2.
Rock throwing stops. They may be illegal but I'm betting they ain't stupid.
One thing I recall from reading the Iliad, is the ancient Greeks considered rocks to be perfectly good weapons, in fact Homer seemed to consider them particularly effective.
9/10 Muslims on a budget prefer rocks.
somebody had to say it!
Of course I would prefer a gun but rocks can still be deadly.
A rock can be a deadly weapon, especially if it's propelled by the old style sling shot.
Deadly force should be met with deadly force IMO.
L
Good reason to shoot!
Homer didn't have a M16
Well he was blind so I guess he would have needed a phaser set to wide angle.
I suspect Homer wouldn't have qualified anyway....
He should have popped a couple of them at least.
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