SAN DIEGO — Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Wednesday condemned a Border Patrol agent’s fatal shooting of a Mexican man who allegedly struck another agent with a nail-studded post. The union representing agents called the triggerman a hero.
The victim was shot once after he hit the agent in the head with the nail-studded piece of wood that was about 3 feet long and resembled a table leg, said San Diego police Lt. Ernie Herbert. He was about to throw a rock when the other agent fired.
The victim fell on the Mexican side of the fence near San Diego’s San Ysidro border crossing, where he died Tuesday night, Herbert said.
Mexican authorities identified the victim as Jose Alfredo Yanez, 40, of Tijuana.
Heriberto Garcia, the Baja California state human rights ombudsman, said Yanez worked at a towing company and had a young child with his 18-year-old girlfriend, who is five months pregnant with their second child.
No Border Patrol agents were seriously hurt.
Mexico’s Foreign Relations Department urged U.S. authorities to swiftly investigate and questioned the “use of firearms to repel an attack with stones.”
Shawn Moran, a spokesman for the National Border Patrol Council, said the agent probably saved his colleague’s life or spared him serious injury.
San Diego police are leading the investigation.
