Coast Guard Shoots Out Smuggling Boat's Engine off San Diego

 

On Sunday evening, a U.S. Coast Guard response boat crew detained seven foreign nationals off San Diego by shooting out their vessel's engines. 

At about 1710 hours, the response boat crew was on patrol when they spotted an apparently disabled vessel at a position about five nautical miles off the coast of Mission Bay, within U.S. territorial seas. The patrol boat approached the vessel to investigate, at which time the "disabled" boat began a high-speed sprint on a southward course, headed for the Mexican maritime boundary line. 

After directing the suspect vessel to stop, the boat crew fired warning shots, but this did not have the desired effect. The crew followed up with 15 rounds of non-lethal pepper balls, after which the suspect boat rammed the patrol boat, causing minor damage. 

At this point, the boat crew escalated and shot out the suspect vessel's starboard engine with "precision rounds." The damage brought the fleeing boat to a halt at a position about four nautical miles southwest of Point Loma - about 15-20 nm from where the chase began, and less than 10 nm from the maritime boundary.

Aboard the vessel, the Coast Guard boat crew found seven Mexican nationals, all male. None were injured except for irritation from the pepper balls. They (and the vessel) were taken into custody and handed over to the appropriate authorities for processing. 

The last time a San Diego boat crew used live rounds to disable a fleeing suspect vessel was on May 10, when an 18-foot cabin cruiser was spotted moving at high speed off Point Loma. After warning shots, the boat crew used disabling fire to force the vessel to halt. Eight foreign nationals were aboard the suspect boat, and were detained for transfer to Department of Homeland Security agents. 

Routine, nonkinetic intercepts are commonplace at the Southern California maritime boundary. As part of the administration's ongoing crackdown on illegal immigration, the San Diego station has tripled its fleet of patrol boats this year, according to local ABC 10.