Border Patrol Agents Shoot Man Who Hit Another Agent With a Wooden Club
Posted on
June 24,2023
Las Cruces, New Mexico — On April 2, 2023, at around 8:37 p.m., a Border Patrol agent observed a white Nissan Rogue sports utility vehicle circumvent a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint located on Interstate 10, approximately 23 miles west of Las Cruces, New Mexico, and began to follow. After traveling approximately 7.6 miles west on C001, the driver of the SUV approached a closed vehicle gate near a residence on the Burris Ranch. The driver turned his vehicle around and stopped the SUV facing east toward I-10 on C001. Agents exited their vehicles and approached the SUV with their weapons drawn. Agents ordered the driver to show his hands and exit the vehicle, but he did not comply. Agents attempted to open the driver side door by pulling the handle but were unsuccessful. An agent then struck the driver side window with his collapsible straight baton; however, the window did not break.
At that point, the driver of the SUV drove away from agents and travelled east on C001. Agents requested assistance from additional personnel via radio and the deployment of a vehicle immobilization device. Responding agents successfully deployed an immobilization device on the SUV. Three of the SUV’s tires came into contact with the device. After traveling approximately 1.4 miles north on C003, the driver of the SUV stopped and exited the vehicle on foot. The body worn cameras showed the driver of the SUV moving north on foot on C003, away from the three agents, as they repeatedly ordered him to stop. The driver was holding a shirt in one hand and a wooden club in the other. The driver was approached by several agents at gunpoint. The driver then swung the club three times in close proximity to one of the agents, who holstered his weapon and moved backwards to create distance.
The driver once again began to walk away from the agents who repeatedly instructed him to stop and to drop the club. The driver once again swung the club three times at an approaching agent. An agent attempted to deploy an electronic control weapon twice over the next minute after instructing the driver to stop and drop the club. The driver appeared to prevent the taser from successfully deploying on both occasions by blocking the prongs with a shirt he was holding. The driver continued to walk away from the agents, who continued to follow and order him to stop and drop the club,. As the driver continued to walk along a fence line, another agent arrived in a marked unit and approached the driver with his extended baton in hand. This agent ordered the driver to stop and put the wooden club down.
The driver swung his club as the agent approached, making contact with the agent’s baton, and swung his club a second time but did not strike the agent as the agent fell backward. The driver continued advancing toward the agent, who was now on the ground, swung the wooden club a third time and struck the agent. The driver struck the agent a second time as he stood over him and was preparing to do so again when three other agents fired their service weapons, striking the driver. The agents fired approximately 16 rounds. The driver fell to the ground a few feet from where the agent had fallen on his back. Agents then approached the driver, removed the wooden club from his hands, secured him and then placed him into a recovery position. An agent checked the driver for a pulse while other agents requested an ambulance along with medical assistance from emergency medical services. The suspect died at the scene and has only been identified as an adult man who is a citizen of the U.S.
.jpg)