Migrant smugglers reportedly posed as border wall construction employees, and one of them shot at a Border Patrol agent following a high-speed chase.
Smugglers on Wednesday entered the U.S. with vehicles, designed to look like pickup trucks involved with border wall construction, carrying numerous illegal aliens, according to a report from the Washington Times. A dangerous encounter took place after Border Patrol agents became suspicious of the pickup trucks and began to follow them.
The incident began Wednesday when Border Patrol agents spotted two older-model Ford F-250 pickup trucks which had logos that read “SWC Southwest Valley Constructors” driving near the Arizona-Mexico border.
SWC is the name of the company that has been contracted to erect barriers in the Tucson sector, but agents were suspicious because the firm informed the agency that their fleet only uses the newer-model F-250s.
Construction crews work on a border wall being put in place in Sunland Park, New Mexico. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Agents then followed the trucks, which eventually split up. One of the vehicles led agents through a slow-speed chase, and stopped after an agent blocked the road with his vehicle. There were 15 illegal aliens inside that vehicle, according to court documents reviewed by the Washington Times.
The other vehicle chase, however, proved more dangerous. The other pickup truck led agents on a high-speed pursuit, smashed into an agent’s vehicle, and then sped off again. When the truck eventually stopped moving, shots were fired.
The individual ran off into Mexico. The pickup truck he left behind had four illegal aliens inside.
While Customs and Border Protection (CBP) did not confirm the details in the report to the Daily Caller News Foundation, a spokesman did confirm that a shootout occurred.
“On April 1, 2020 at approximately 2:30 p.m., a Border Patrol Agent from the Tucson Sector was involved in a failure to yield incident and agent involved shooting near Douglas, Arizona,” Robert Daniels said to the DCNF on Monday. (RELATED: Border Patrol Catches Child Sex Offender Attempting To Illegally Enter The US)
“No injuries were reported at the time of this preliminary report,” Daniels continued.
CBP said that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is leading the investigation into the incident — a typical action when a shooting of a Border Patrol agent is involved.
The FBI did not respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.
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