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O.C. witness speaks about killing of border agent
Britt Craig of Mission Viejo said he witnessed the killing of a border agent more than a week ago.
BY CINDY CARCAMO
Friday, July 31, 2009
The weathered face and dusty garb gazed at the white metal cross stretching toward the blue-desert sky.
"This should not have happened," explained Britt Craig, a Minuteman who shares his time between his home in Mission Viejo and his calling, Campo.
The newly erected cross marks the spot where, officials say, a smuggling suspect gunned down Border Patrol Agent Robert Rosas more than a week ago.
Only a few hours after the agent's memorial Friday, Craig, possibly the only civilian to have witnessed Rosas' killing July 23, described what he heard about 9 p.m. that night.
"I heard four spaced shots like bang, bang, bang, bang," Craig said. "Then there was a shooting fairly rapidly ... three or four bangs, just as fast as you could shoot."
Craig, who has spent at least 96 hours a week at Campo since 2005, said he couldn't see anything because of the rolling hills. Still, he said he called Border Patrol, reporting what he'd heard.
"In the daytime, people hunt and target practice, but at night it's usually a bad thing when guns go off," he explained.
About three minutes after the call, a caravan of Border Patrol vehicles drove toward the area.
Border Patrol agents said they could not confirm Craig's story because the FBI is investigating the fatal shooting. The FBI did not return calls for comment.
Craig, who wears a patch after having lost an eye during the Vietnam War, describes his work as a sort of "Neighborhood Watch."
The Army veteran is one of about only 20 Minutemen left at Campo. That's a far cry from the up to 200 Minutemen who once camped along that border spot after the 2005 Minuteman Project launch in Arizona.
The decline at Campo, known as a busy corridor for drug and human smugglers, is just another symptom of the group's disintegration.
Marred by political infighting among its leaders, legal battles and accusations of corruption, the group is left fractured and seems to have lost its influence in national politics.
The group's name can be used by anyone, including violent extremists, said Craig, an original Minuteman who met his wife at the desolate shrub-covered hills of Campo.
"Every day, I'm afraid that some fool who calls himself a Minuteman is going to do something totally unthinkable and bad and bring heat on everybody."
In response, Craig said he stays away from the "white nationalists" and "wrong-headed" folks and tries to stay out of the way of Border Patrol agents.
Usually, he operates alone. That was the case on the night of Rosas' killing.
He blames the agent's killing on what he called the inability of the U.S. government to seal its porous border.
"There's no real barrier," Craig said, pointing at the gaping holes underneath the border. "It's just rough country."
Mexican authorities have detained five men in connection with the case, according to the Associated Press. Mexican officials told the news service that Ernesto Parra Valenzuela, 36, had a 9mm pistol when he was captured walking alone near the scene of the shooting. Mexican officials told AP that Parra admitted he was a migrant smuggler when local police found him about five hours after the shooting, but he denied any involvement with Rosas' death.
Craig, who carries a handgun and wears a cap emblazoned with the word "Hunter," said Rosas' death is just the latest in a series of atrocities that happen at the border. He says he's seen just about everything along that rough country. He says he's even had three men surrender to him.
Recently, however, he says he's witnessed fewer people milling around on the Mexican side of the border.
"That doesn't mean they're not coming," he said. "It means they're sneakier."
Craig said the solution is to erect a solid fence, and that he'll retire when that happens.
"It would be nice, but I don't actually think I'll make it that long," he said.
He looked out into what he calls the "badlands."
"I bought a canoe last year," Craig said. "It would be nice to retire off the border and go fishing, but somebody's got to do this."
For now, the canoe is sitting next to the pool at home in Mission Viejo.
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