SUSPECT IN DRUG DEALING SHOT, KILLED BY UNDERCOVER AGENT

SAN DIEGO - An undercover Border Patrol agent shot and killed a woman
suspected of selling drugs last night as they struggled over the agent's
gun in the middle of a residential San Diego street.

The agent, who was not identified by authorities, suffered slight injuries.
She was treated at a hospital.

She had been working with San Diego police narcotics officers, making
undercover drug buys, in City Heights. The operation had gone on for a few
hours through the evening.

Two women were arrested, handcuffed and put in the back of a police car
just after 8:30 p.m., said Capt. Ron Newman of the San Diego Police
Department.

One of the women twisted around in the car, smashed the rear window with
her feet and got at least one hand free of her cuffs, Newman said.

The agent pulled over at the intersection of Cherokee Avenue and Wightman
Street to check on the woman.

"The agent stopped the car, and when she opened the back door I think she
was surprised that the woman was out of her handcuffs," Newman said. "She
still had one on her wrist.

"A struggle took place over (the agent's) weapon outside the car."

Newman said he was not sure whether the agent fired once or twice.

The agent screamed into her radio, "I shot her! I shot her!"

Residents reported hearing a single shot.

"I was about to go to bed when I heard a gunshot," said Roslyna Van, 15. "I
came outside and saw someone lying in the water.

"A policewoman was on her radio calling for backup. I heard her yelling loud."

Donald Holder, 19, and Frank Rawson, 16, were asleep in a corner house when
the shooting awoke them. Rawson said plainclothes officers arrived quickly
to help the agent and to check on the wounded woman.

Paramedics began cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but the woman was declared
dead at a hospital.