Violence and Death Mar Weekend Along the Border

U.S. officials, responding Sunday to the third violent border incident this weekend, found the body of an unidentified man lying face down in a gulch west of the international port of entry at San Ysidro.

The body was found at 6:15 p.m. in an isolated stretch about 50 feet north of the border and less than a mile from the busy port of entry at San Ysidro, said spokesmen for the U.S. Border Patrol and the San Diego Police Department. The unidentified victim was believed to have died of stab wounds to his back, officials said, although details were sketchy late Sunday. San Diego homicide detectives were investigating.

On Saturday, Mexican authorities shot and wounded an apparent smuggler of illegal aliens after he attempted to evade the U.S. Border Patrol by fleeing into Mexico, U.S. officials said Sunday.

Mexican officials opened fire on the suspected smuggler at about 5:25 p.m. after he abandoned his pickup truck--filled with 14 apparently illegal aliens--in San Ysidro and tried to cross on foot into Mexico, according to spokesmen for the Border Patrol and the San Diego police.

Mexican officials could not be reached to confirm the shooting and the status of the victim. Bill Robinson, a spokesman for the San Diego police, said he believed the suspected smuggler was injured but not killed.

The suspected smuggler was initially sighted by U.S. Border Patrol agents at about 5 p.m. Saturday in the eastern Otay Mesa area, said Ed Pyeatt, a Border Patrol spokesman. Suspecting that he might be transporting aliens, Pyeatt said, agents followed him south on Interstate 5.

The suspect abandoned his vehicle near the international border and attempted to escape into Mexico on foot, prompting gunfire from Mexican authorities, Pyeatt said. U.S. immigration officials seized the vehicle, a pickup truck that had been reported stolen in San Diego, and arrested 14 alien passengers.

Late Friday, about 50 yards north of the border, U.S. authorities found the body of a 23-year-old Tijuana man who had been shot once in the head. The authorities said they believed the dead man, identified as Jose Luis Moreno-Sanchez, might have been shot by Mexican officials after a dispute but Mexican authorities were unavailable for comment.

Just before noon Sunday, U.S. border agents found the body of an unidentified man in a canyon favored by aliens crossing illegally into the United States. A spokesman for the coroner’s office said the man died a natural death.

Border Patrol officials blamed recent violence on the growing number of illegal aliens crossing the border.