Last time we checked, shooting into another country’s territory was against international law. But the United States Border Patrol isn’t one to get all bogged down international law, especially in the face of rocks.

The incident began unfolding about 10 p.m. Tuesday, when an officer with the federal agency on patrol near the 300 block of Virginia Avenue spotted three or four people attempting to scale the south side of the border fence, according to San Diego police.
The agent fired a pepper-ball gun “in the direction” of the would-be illegal immigrants in an attempt to get them off the barrier, said Lt. Terry McManus of the SDPD Homicide Unit, which investigates all officer-involved shootings in the city.

Moments later, stones “larger than softball-size” and other debris began landing near the agent as he sat in his patrol vehicle, McManus told reporters during an afternoon briefing.

“He believed he was being attacked — he, in fact, was being attacked by individuals on the other side of the border,” the lieutenant said. “They were throwing large rocks, boulders, and in a couple of instances, pieces of concrete block towards him.”

Now, we’re not saying that it’s ok to throw rocks of any size and yes rocks can be dangerous, but when it’s rocks versus guns, what do you think will happen?

Someone will get shot and duh, it wasn’t anyone on the U.S. side.

About half-dozen officers then went through an access door in the border barrier and were confronted by “seven to 15 Mexican nationals … in a group, many of them still armed with rocks,” McManus said.

After discharging about 50 more pepper balls, the agents launched a tear-gas grenade toward the group, and the resulting cloud of caustic chemical vapors prompted most of the aggressors to flee to the south.

“Two of the suspects, however, remained and were still armed with rocks and directing their attention toward the Border Patrol agents,” McManus told reporters.

Fearing for his safety and that of his colleagues, one of the officers fired two rounds from his service rifle, striking one of the Mexican nationals, a 23-year-old man, the lieutenant said.

So technically when they went through the access door, weren’t they in Mexico?

Just asking.

Via / AM 600 KOGO