tucsoncitizen.com
CORONADO NATIONAL MEMORIAL - Violence in the Huachuca Mountains has National Park Service rangers here spending more time chasing drug smugglers and illegal immigrants and less time with taxpaying park visitors, the rangers say. And it's dangerous work.
The threat of smugglers willing to resort to violence to escape run-ins with law enforcement is becoming all too familiar.
Three times in the past two weeks federal officers along the border have fired at suspects, including one case where a suspected smuggler pulled a gun on a ranger.
On Feb. 6, a ranger here opened fire when an immigrant smuggler pulled a gun. The suspect fled and wasn't hit or captured, said FBI spokeswoman Susan Herskovits.
On Saturday, a Border Patrol agent shot a Mexican man after he had crossed the border illegally in Douglas she said. Someone had been throwing rocks at the agent, she said. The man is recovering in Agua Prieta, Son.
And yesterday, an agent fired at a drug smuggling suspect who was spotted in Bisbee and chased down and captured near Naco.
Park rangers who might otherwise help picnickers or hikers are spending their nights waiting in the darkness for smugglers.
Coronado Chief Ranger Thane Weigand said his rangers are the police force on Park Service land, and are trained to enforce all federal laws.
"We have a responsibility to provide homeland security," he said. "Being on the border, we don't have a choice."
On one recent night, Ranger Joe Larson said he hoped to run in to the smuggler who aimed a gun at a ranger Feb. 6.
Larson leads three rangers up a narrow, winding path - all of them carrying AR-15s, sidearms, flashlights and blankets - as sunset turns the sky purple.
All of them wear bullet-proof vests.
Only two rangers were working when the smuggler pulled the gun, Larson said. This shift has four, two sent from Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in response to the gun-toting smuggler.
Organ Pipe rangers know the threat as well as anyone. It was there in August 2002 that a smuggler killed Ranger Kris Eggle. Since then Organ Pipe has received more staffing and supplies and started construction of a vehicle barrier to keep smugglers out.
Posted by Suzanne at February 19, 2004