CHULA VISTA, Calif. – A Border Patrol agent fatally shot a 32-year-old mother of five Friday in suburban San Diego as he rode on the hood of her car after she ran into him, authorities and family members said.
The agent fired after being driven several hundred yards on the hood, Chula Vista police Capt. Gary Wedge told The Associated Press. The woman was later identified in a police statement as Valeria Alvarado.
The shooting occurred about five miles north of the Mexican border as plainclothes agents were looking to serve a felony warrant in the area to someone other than Alvarado, Border Patrol Deputy Chief Rodney Scott told U-T San Diego.
Scott said the agent was stuck atop the car as Alvarado drove.
"Fearing for his life, he discharged his weapon to get the vehicle to stop," Scott said. No other agents fired.
Alvarado was declared dead at the scene, and the agent was taken to a hospital. His injuries were not clear.
After talking to investigators, family members including her husband and cousin told U-T San Diego that Alvarado was a housewife and mother of five children ranging from ages 3 to 17 who went by the name Monique.
"I love her to the fullest. That's my heart," husband Gilbert Alvarado said. "Where's the evidence my wife threatened a trained officer? I want justice."
Family members said Valeria Alvarado grew up in Chula Vista where the shooting took place but had been living about five miles away in the Southcrest neighborhood of San Diego, and they did not know why she was in her former hometown.
Hector Salazar, one of several neighbors who witnessed the incident, said he saw a man in civilian clothes on the hood of a black car aiming a gun at the windshield.
Salazar told U-T San Diego the man started pulling the trigger, and he heard about five shots. Moments later, other plainclothes agents approached the car, he said.
The person named in the warrant the agents were serving was not apprehended, Scott said.
The FBI and Chula Vista police are investigating.
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