Authorities on both sides of the US-Mexico border are trying to find whoever dropped a 4-year-old boy from a border barrier in San Diego, US Customs and Border Protection said.
The incident happened around 9 p.m. on May 15, about half a mile east of the San Ysidro port of entry. Surveillance video captured the moment the child was dropped over the barrier by someone who was entering the country illegally, CPB said.
First responders who rendered aid to the injured child then came under fire.
“Agents reported hearing both the impact and ricochet of gunshots off of the secondary border barrier just north of their location,” CBP said in a news release.
“With emergency medical services, the San Diego Fire Department, and the child still on scene, agents directed everyone in the area to cover.”
A CBP Air and Marine Operations helicopter responded to provide air cover, the agency said.
The boy did not suffer any serious injuries, US Border Patrol Chief Raul L. Ortiz said.
“Remarkably, the child is ok! Do not trust smugglers!” Ortiz tweeted.
A binational investigation is underway to identify the suspects, CBP said, and additional agents have been assigned to the area.
90% of recent migrants who entered illegally have been deported
About a week after the boy was dropped over the border barrier, CBP’s Rio Grande Valley border patrol chief issued a public warning about crossing the border illegally.
“At the airport this morning deportation is happening not just for adults, but for families,” Chief Gloria Chavez posted in Spanish on the CBP’s main Instagram account.
“This is a consequence for those people who decide to enter the country illegally.”
With a deportation plane as a backdrop, Chavez said 90% of migrants who have entered the country illegally have been deported from the United States.
Chavez showed video of single adults and families – some with children – getting deported. She urged migrants to use legal pathways to enter the country.
CNN’s Amanda Jackson contributed to this report.