Mexican helicopter fires shots in Arizona

Associated Press

TUCSON, Ariz.

Mexican law enforcement on Thursday crossed into Arizona by helicopter and fired two shots at U.S. border agents, a border patrol union leader says.

A Mexican law-enforcement chopper crossed about 100 yards north into the Arizona desert, the U.S. Border Patrol said in a statement. The helicopter then fired two shots on the Tohono O’Odham Indian Nation, which sits on the border. Border patrol union leaders say the Mexicans fired at agents but that none of them were hurt.

However, Mexican authorities have denied shooting at agents and say they were under attack during a mission to find smugglers on the border.

Art del Cueto, president of the local border patrol union, said four agents were in a marked patrol vehicle when they were shot at.

“They could say they didn’t fire at the agents intentionally. But for them to say that there were no shots fired within the United States, toward the United States Border Patrol, is a lie. They got in contact with our managers and apologized for the incident,” del Cueto said.