Mexican officers fire on pickup carrying migrants, killing 1

Mexican authorities say one migrant was shot to death and four were wounded when a pickup truck carrying over a dozen migrants tried to avoid an immigration checkpoint in southern Mexico and ram a National Guard vehicle

PIJIJIAPAN, Mexico -- Mexico's National Guard said Monday that its officers opened fire when a pickup truck carrying migrants tried to avoid an immigration checkpoint and ram a patrol vehicle, and the gunfire killed one migrant and wounded four others.

Prosecutors in the southern state of Chiapas said in a statement that the dead man was a Cuban citizen, but did not supply his full name.

Apparently, the migrants in the truck were not part of some 4,000 mainly Central Americans who are seeking to reach Mexico City on foot. The shooting late Sunday occurred about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from where the migrant march was.

A statement from the National Guard said the truck ignored orders to stop for an inspection near the town of Pijijiapan and tried to ram a patrol vehicle. It said officers opened fire because the driver of the truck “put at imminent risk their safety" by trying to ram their patrol vehicle.