Police to investigate San Ysidro shooting

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published May 18, 2006 at 9:00 PM PDT

This story was published more than 18 years ago.

The Mexican government is calling for an investigation into a shooting by two federal agents at the San Ysidro border crossing that left 22 year old Oscar Garcia of Tijuana dead. A union representing

The Mexican government is calling for an investigation into a shooting by two federal agents at the San Ysidro border crossing that left 22 year old Oscar Garcia of Tijuana dead.

A union representing the Border Patrol agent involved in the shooting defended the officer's conduct. Meanwhile, San Diego police are interviewing witnesses to the incident.

Police Department spokesman Kevin Rooney, says the investigation could take up to one month to complete. He says U.S. Border Patrol agents received a tip that an SUV with six passengers, might have been carrying illegal immigrants and they followed it to the border crossing where it stopped. Rooney says a border patrol agent tried to open the driver's door, but it was locked:

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Rooney: "The agent broke the driver's window with a baton, the suspect quickly accelerated toward a group of agents that were positioned in front of the vehicle and two of them did end up firing their weapons."

Rooney says the 22 year old driver died inside the SUV. He says four passengers will be deported to Mexico. The fifth passenger, a 26 year old man and the driver's companion, was arrested for smuggling. Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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