An Arizona man was shot 16 times when he was caught in a gang fire fighting along the southern border — but he bore no ill will toward the gunman who put his life at risk.
Craig Ricketts was injured when he was shot twice – in the leg and arm – as he tried to drive from Mexico to Tempe, Arizona, to visit his son on Christmas Eve, according to reports.
He told Arizona Family that he was traveling northwest of Sasabe – a volatile border crossing – due to a shutdown at the Lukeville checkpoint when the shooting began, leading to at least 16 shots from a group of smugglers hitting his car.
“The first thing I noticed was that my left window was broken. I saw bullet holes through my front window, and my radio was blown up by bullets,” he told the station from his Tucson hospital bed this week.
“I got hit once in my arm, which feels like being scraped by a bike when you’re a kid, and the other one was my left leg,” Ricketts said.
Craig Ricketts was injured when he was shot twice as he tried to drive from Mexico to Tempe, Arizona, to visit his son on Christmas Eve. 3TV/CBS 5 Ricketts was traveling northwest of Sasabe due to a closure at another border crossing when gunfire struck his SUV. 3TV/CBS 5 A bullet hole in the side of Ricketts’ car after he got away from the gang. 3TV/CBS 5
The Attorney General’s Office in Sonora said the shooting is the second time an American has been caught in the middle of violence in the past month, the outlet reported.
Ricketts initially wanted to bypass the closed Lukeville checkpoint by crossing the border in Nogales, but his GPS reportedly led him to the Sasabe entry point in Sonora where the State Department advises Americans to avoid the area because of crime.
The Christmas Eve shooting comes a week after a US resident was killed and two others injured in a shooting along the Sonora highway, the Arizona Republic reported.
Ricketts works in Puerto Libertad, Sonora, building real estate developments and has worked in Mexico for 20 years, Arizona Family reported.
Ricketts wanted to get around the closed Lukeville checkpoint by crossing the border in Nogales, but his GPS reportedly led him to the Sasabe entrance 3TV/CBS 5 Ricketts showed one of the two gunshot wounds he suffered on Christmas Eve. 3TV/CBS 5
Despite the terrifying episode, Ricketts did not seem angry with the group that fired the shots, according to the station.
“The bottom line is they don’t know who I am,” he said. “They just want to guarantee their access for people smuggling.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
