Officials: Man Shot After Trying To Ram US Agents Prompts Arizona Border Crossing Closure

Nogales Police Department at the shipping port after the shooting on Sept. 8, 2016.
Nogales Police Department
September 08, 2016

Arizona’s largest shipping port in Nogales was partly closed Thursday after U.S. federal agents opened fire on a man who tried to ram them, officials said.

Several federal officers opened fire on a driver who officials said tried to ram port inspectors at the Mariposa Port of Entry. The incident started at about 2 o.m. when authorizes say a driver raced to the port trying to escape from the Border Patrol. When the driver got to the port, he swerved his vehicle into the inspectors, officials said. Federal agents then shot the driver multiple times.

"The driver sustained multiple gunshot wounds and was airlifted to a Tucson area hospital. There was also a passenger in the vehicle who sustained non-life-threatening injuries and is currently in custody. No officers or agents were injured," said Border Patrol spokeswoman Erin Jackson, reading from a prepared statement.

The Mariposa Port of Entry remained closed to Mexico bound traffic late Thursday.

Northbound lanes into Arizona remained open. The shooting is being investigated by an internal affairs agency and the FBI.