Man Held in Killing of Illegal Alien Who Crossed His Yard

SAN DIEGO —  San Diego police arrested a 19-year-old man Tuesday for allegedly gunning down an illegal immigrant in a cul-de-sac near the U.S-Mexico border after the victim and four companions ran through the back yard of the man’s home.

Police described the slaying as a hate crime. It occurred Monday morning in a residential neighborhood where immigrants run through streets and yards every night after crossing the border illegally.

Shortly before 8 a.m., Harold Ray Bassham allegedly jumped into his car and pursued the group from his house about a block to the wall of the Interstate 5 freeway--a common route used by illegal immigrants to walk north--and fired four shots at them from a .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol, police said.

One shot fatally wounded Humberto Reyes Miranda, 23, from the Mexico City area, as he climbed the freeway wall, police said. Three other immigrants fled, but a friend of Miranda stayed with him and flagged down a passing Border Patrol car, police said.

Acting on descriptions provided by Miranda’s friend and other witnesses, police arrested Bassham on Tuesday morning after spotting his car in the neighborhood, Lt. John Welter said.

“In our opinion the suspect shot the victim because he was an alien crossing his property,” Welter said. “Part of his motivation appears to be (Miranda’s) race and national origin.”

Welter said Miranda and his companions did not appear to have done anything to Bassham other than cross his property.