[Updated at 11:00 p.m.] A sheriff's deputy in central Arizona was shot Friday afternoon by a suspected drug trafficker, authorities said.
The Pinal County deputy, who was not immediately identified, contacted authorities after being wounded in the desert, saying he had been shot by an illegal immigrant with an AK-47, said Lt. Tammy Villar, a sheriff's spokeswoman.
[Posted at 9:05 p.m.] A sheriff's deputy in central Arizona who was shot Friday afternoon by an alleged illegal immigrant has been found after authorities lost contact with him, according to CNN affiliate KPNX.
The report came from a KPNX reporter on board a chopper at the scene.
[Posted at 8:41 p.m.] A sheriff's deputy in central Arizona was shot Friday afternoon by a member of an alleged group of illegal immigrants, authorities said.
The Pinal County deputy, who was not immediately identified, contacted authorities after being wounded in a remote area, said Lt. Tammy Villar, a sheriff's spokeswoman. She said authorities believe he was shot with a AK-47. The deputy was being treated for the wound, but his condition was not immediately known, Villar said.
Pinal County is located between Phoenix and Tuscon and has been described as a key transit point for illegal immigrants. Sheriff Paul Babeu told CNN that an estimated 80 percent of illegal immigrants eventually pass through his county along the way to other locations.
Deputies in the department routinely patrol for illegal immigrants and smugglers, and it's not uncommon for them to be in the field alone, officials said.
It was not immediately clear what led the deputy to engage with the group on Friday.
– CNN's Casey Wian contributed to this report.
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Proves the point, doesn't it?
Alleged illegal immigrant eh? Be more blatant.
WHAAAAAAAAAAAA???
Arizona just changed the law to conform to the Hispanics concerns.. In short they got what they wanted.. It’s going to be voted by the Senate and given to the Governor to be signed.
Its inexcusable Obama and his socialist came out and lied to the Hispanic people just trying to get their votes and scared them, so they made the language straight forward to completely clarify the law and it does not pertain to Mexican-Americans of those who are honest working Latinos. Good work Conservatives. At least they can now have a breath of relief.
Any reasons for why they believe it was an undocumented immigrant and not just some native-born gangbanger who was in the area?
Well, if you lived here in Pinal County you would know there are no gang bangers,lol! If you lived here, you would know that in most cases it is an illegal! We have a problem here..... people seem to ignore or cry about it when it is addressed!
AZ asked for this. There you go. That's what happens when you make stupid laws.
Time to arm our officers in southern and central arizona with automatic weapons!
Need to target the solution to the problem. People who are making beds, bussing tables, painting houses...are NOT out targeting law enforcemnt with AK-47's.
Not to many; they still are stuck on RACIAL PROFILING, not ILLEGAL OR CRIMINAL.
One immigrant shoots a deputy all should be punished. One black man smokes crack we are all crack heads...
Does that make all white people nazis???
Cops need more fire power. Why not lay some miines, maybe a drug smuggler will get killed
I call bullshit. The timing on this is just a little too convenient.
Oh yeah! How convenient, now they are just making things up to justify their racist law. I say BS!!!!!!!!
Look, this stuff happens everyday around here.....are you guys so lame that you can't see the media is just picking up on this story because we are in the spotlight for this new law? I wonder about you people......we are not mean, we want safe streets our kids!
Nothing racist about enforcing national immigration laws that have been on the books for decades....
Heres what went down, they announce a modification to the law ok maybe the law will be more accepted but just in case it doesnt theyre going to give this incident national media coverage ! This technique of stirring peoples rage through news like this to get support for this racist law is getting old it happened with the african american community before !! So i call BS on this one also
Illegal only has one meaning... Enforce the law
Well, well, well...where are all the people complaining about this Arizona bill? You see what is happening?!? Half of the people complaining about this bill isn't even from Arizona. Who care what they think..we live here they don't. Make this bill a LAW!
I feel we need to shut down all of our borders for at least a few years. We have a problem for some time now.
I wonder if this will curtail all of the protests scheduled for tomorrow?
See what happens???