Authorities on Wednesday, released the names of two U.S. Border Patrol officers involved in a weekend shooting that wounded a man who allegedly assaulted one of the officer's colleagues with a rock during a predawn encounter in the Tijuana River Valley.
Agents Brandon Brandt and Micah Owens opened fire on Francisco Javier Gutierrez-Alvarado, address unknown, early Sunday in a rural area known as Spooner's Mesa, just north of the international line, according to police.
The events that led to the non-fatal shooting began about 2:30 a.m., when Gutierrez-Alvarado, believed to be 19, allegedly hurled a stone at a border agent riding a patrol ATV, knocking him to the ground.
Gutierrez-Alvarado then jumped onto the unoccupied vehicle and rode off, SDPD Lt. Matt Dobbs said.
Brandt and Owens chased and fired their service firearms at the fleeing man, Dobbs said. Wounded by at least one gunshot, the suspect eventually crashed the ATV into a fence and was apprehended.
Medics took Gutierrez-Alvarado to a hospital for treatment of trauma that was not believed to be life-threatening. None of the federal personnel sustained any significant injuries during the incident, the lieutenant said.
Upon his release from medical care, Gutierrez-Alvarado was expected to face a charge of assaulting a federal agent.
The San Diego Police Department was called in to investigate the officer-involved shooting because it took place within the city law enforcement agency's jurisdiction.
