Border Crossing Shut After Shooting

Associated Press
Friday, May 19, 2006; Page A11

SAN DIEGO, May 18 -- A busy U.S.-Mexico border crossing was shut down Thursday after U.S. authorities shot and killed the driver of a car headed for Mexico, officials said.

The shooting occurred on southbound Interstate 5 around 3:30 p.m., about 50 feet north of the San Ysidro Port of Entry, the world's busiest border crossing, which links Tijuana, Mexico, with San Diego.


President Bush speaks at Yuma Sector Border Patrol Headquarters, Thursday, May 18, 2006 in Yuma, Ariz. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
President Bush speaks at Yuma Sector Border Patrol Headquarters, Thursday, May 18, 2006 in Yuma, Ariz. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) (Pablo Martinez Monsivais - AP)

The driver, who not immediately identified, was pronounced dead at the scene with multiple gunshot wounds, said Maurice Luque, a spokesman for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.

Footage from television news helicopters showed a black sport-utility vehicle in the middle of the road with a shattered driver's side window.

There were no immediate reports of any other injuries.

Details about what might have prompted the shooting were not immediately available.

The California Highway Patrol sealed off southbound access to the border, and rush-hour traffic backed up for more than a mile.


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