California IN BRIEF : SAN ONOFRE : 3 Killed Crossing I-5 Near Checkpoint

Three people, all believed to be illegal immigrants, were killed in two accidents within a 10-hour period as they attempted to dash across the San Diego Freeway near the San Onofre checkpoint. Illegal immigrants for years have crossed Interstate 5 north and south of the checkpoint--referred to by local authorities as “slaughter alley”--in an effort to evade the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. Border Patrol agents said they feared that the incidents may portend an increase in fatalities, perhaps reaching higher than the 15 deaths recorded in 1990. “It would appear there are more people out there,” said Steve Kean, a Border Patrol spokesman. In one of the incidents, a dozen people were seen standing in the center divider before trying to run across the freeway. Two were killed. Hours earlier, a man was killed while he attempted to run across the freeway where a companion was waiting.