Mexico angry about Border Patrol shooting

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published January 2, 2006 at 9:00 PM PST

This story was published more than 18 years ago.

The Mexican Consulate in San Diego has condemned the use of lethal force against an 18-year-old Mexican youth who was shot near the border last Friday after allegedly throwing stones at a border patro

The Mexican Consulate in San Diego has condemned the use of lethal force against an 18-year-old Mexican youth who was shot near the border last Friday after allegedly throwing stones at a border patrol officer. KPBS reporter Alison St. John has more.

Guillermo Martinez Rodriguez, a Tijuana resident, died in a Tijuana hospital Saturday after being shot in the shoulder by a border Patrol Agent the night before. The U.S. Border Patrol says assaults on their agents have risen dramatically from over 100 in 2004, to well over 200 incidents last year. A spokesman says the agent who shot Martinez feared for his life.
Mexican Consul General, Luis Cabrera, acknowledges border tensions are rising.

CABRERA: "But these kind of incidents do not help the kind of cooperation that has to prevail in this region. we want, both countries, a secure and safe border and it is not by the use of force that we will do this."

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Cabrera says the State of Baja is conducting an investigation to see if criminal prosecution is warranted. The San Diego Police Department is also leading an investigation into the incident, that happened half a mile east of San Ysidro. Alison St. John, KPBS news.

Alison St John

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.