Police Recount Events Before Shooting

A group of alleged U.S. thieves, mostly teen-agers, had already robbed one group of undocumented immigrants Jan. 30 when a similar assault on a second group of migrants ended in gunfire and the fatal police shooting of one of the alleged robbers, San Diego police testified Wednesday.

Two suspects, David Scott McLintock and Tony Lee Lanham, both 19-year-old residents of South San Diego, admitted in subsequent questioning that they and seven accomplices had gone to the border that night intending to rob immigrants, Detective Robert Lovato testified during a preliminary hearing in Municipal Court.

The two are charged with conspiring to rob a group of eight immigrants during the second alleged attack, which occurred at a site near Dairy Mart Road, a favored entry area for illegal crossings from Mexico.

The two have both pleaded not guilty. Six younger alleged assailants--also U.S. citizens and South San Diego residents--were arrested and face charges in Juvenile Court.

All eight suspects were arrested at the scene, authorities said.

During the confrontation, Officers Robert Kanaski and Jaime Conti shot and killed Roger Varela, 22, and wounded a 16-year-old companion. The officers are with the Border Crime Intervention Unit, a special police detail posted to the border. They were following a group of northbound immigrants when the thieves attacked from two sides, police said.

The officers, their handguns raised, identified themselves as police officers, but Varela continued to approach the officers, brandishing a non-functioning M-16 rifle, said San Diego police Sgt. Frank Martinez. Facing such a threat, he said, the two officers opened fire.