By Diana Washington Valdez
El Paso Times
EL PASO, Tx. — The El Paso FBI is investigating an early Sunday shooting at the Zaragoza Bridge.
FBI Special Agent Martha Terrazas said the investigation involves the police pursuit of a sport utility vehicle that fled a crash site in El Paso’s Lower Valley.
The FBI is investigating because U.S. federal law enforcement officers at the bridge shot at the suspected SUV that fled across the Zaragoza Bridge into Juarez.
It was not known Sunday night whether the driver of the SUV was shot.
Police Detective Mike Baranyay said El Paso police had responded to a report of a crash before 1 a.m. Sunday at the intersection of Lee Trevi?o Drive and Castner Drive. An SUV involved in the wreck fled the scene.
Baranyay said a police officer who spotted an SUV matching the description of the fleeing vehicle began a pursuit.
Once the vehicle headed toward the Zaragoza bridge, the police ended their pursuit at Roseway Drive and Zaragoza Road.
Customs and Border Protection officers at the bridge fired shots at the fleeing SUV, but the vehicle did not stop.
About the same time the SUV from El Paso had crossed the border, Mexican police reported a shootout between several armed men and law enforcement officers near the Zaragoza Bridge.
Ju?rez police officials said the police station, which is also near the bridge, was not a target.
Three men were killed and three others injured in the Juarez firefight that lasted more than 30 minutes. Federal agents were among the injured, Juarez police said.
None of the victims were identified.
After the firefight, Juarez authorities reported that a burned Chevrolet Suburban was found in a ditch at Ramon Rayon and Manuel Clouthier near the Zaragoza Bridge. Two dead men were inside the vehicle.
Another man was found dead inside a maroon Nissan sedan at Gomez Morin and Manuel Clouthier.
A red and white Ford Bronco was found abandoned behind the Benito Juarez police station. Although there was blood by the Ford Bronco, no one was in sight.
However, there was no information available on whether the SUV was the same one that fled El Paso.
By noon, 14 people were reported killed Sunday in Juarez, including six people who were massacred by an armed commando at a house party at Papaya and Arena.
Investigations continued late Sunday.
Copyright 2010 El Paso Times, a MediaNews Group Newspaper