An American and a Canadian hiker have been attacked while walking in the Jacumba Mountains Wilderness, California, near the southern border with Mexico. The US citizen was shot and wounded in the leg and both men were robbed of their cell phones and backpacks.
They were part of a group of hiking on a scenic trail when they were approached by two armed individuals who summoned them. When they refused to move, the assailants fired a volley of shots toward them, hitting one man in the leg.
According to a release from US Customs and Border Protection, the assailants advanced on the downed hiker and his Canadian companion, taking their cell phones and backpacks.
Posted by CBPgov on
US Border Patrol agents were dispatched to the area and the victim was transferred to Reach Air Ambulance and flown to Sharp Medical Center in San Diego for treatment.
The incident has been blamed on Mexican cartel members by local law enforcement, although no one has been caught or charged.
The Jacumba Mountains Wilderness is an area of more than 31,000 hectares of granite rock terrain east of the Jacumba Valley in San Diego County, California. It is home to mule deer, rare peninsular bighorn sheep, golden eagles and kangaroo rats and it is a popular destination for rock climbing, hiking and camping.
The landscape, made up entirely of huge rock formations, comprises the remote desert mountains bisected by the US-Mexico border. It is a functioning ecosystem to endangered wildlife and also part of the native Kumeyaay people’s ancestral land.
Construction of the physical border has heavily impacted the fragile environment, destroying rare plants and obstructing the water flow and the natural paths of wildlife.
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