The violence from drugs and border crossings continues. Is the only answer more agents and troops?

By Richard Marosi
Los Angeles Times
SAN DIEGO — Mexican authorities have detained five people in connection with last week’s fatal shooting of a U.S. Border Patrol agent, but U.S. investigators have not said whether they are suspects in the case.

The detainees were arrested within two days after Robert Rosas, a three-year agency employee, was shot multiple times by suspected smugglers near the border fence.

One of the men, Ernesto Parra Valenzuela, 36, who was identified as the shooter, was injured and carrying a 9-millimeter handgun, according to police in Tecate, Mexico.

Parra and the four other detainees — believed to be immigrant smugglers and bandits who were near the crime scene Thursday night — are being held at the federal attorney general’s office in Tijuana.

In high-profile cross-border cases, the Mexican government frequently provides U.S. investigators access to suspects, but it is unclear whether U.S. agents have questioned the men.

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