Two small boat crews of Coast Guard members conduct a training exercise in 2019. A Coast Guard boat fired at Mexican smugglers attempting to evade capture off the coast of San Diego on Jan. 5, 2025. (U.S. Coast Guard)
Coast Guard members opened fire off the coast of San Diego to disable a vessel smuggling people into the U.S. after two Mexican men on the boat attempted to evade a service patrol by ramming into them, according to court documents.
The Coast Guard was called to chase down the boat after Border Patrol agents detained four people who got off the vessel at a boat ramp near Mission Bay Drive Bridge at about 4 p.m. on Jan. 5, according to court documents filed in the in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of California.
Agents also spotted two men who remained near the boat and who did not comply with their commands. Instead, the men boarded the boat and drove away from the dock trying to escape.
The men on the rogue vessel, which had several fishing poles attached, ignored the Coast Guard’s emergency lights and directions to stop.
“The vessel rammed into the [Coast Guard] vessel, and the two occupants of the vessel began throwing metal objects at the [Coast Guard] boat and its occupants,” according to the court documents.
Coast Guard members then fired disabling rounds at the boat’s motor and shot pepper balls to subdue the men. Still, the two continued to fight back as the Coast Guard members boarded the disabled boat and used pepper spray on the men.
The two men — Oscar Eduardo Audelo-Rodriquez and Francisco Brado-Cota, both of Mexico — were arrested and taken to Ballast Point at Naval Base Point Loma, where they were medically cleared and taken into federal custody.
The Coast Guard did not respond Tuesday to a request for information on the incident.
Three of the four people initially arrested told Border Patrol agents that they were from Mexico and had agreed to pay between $7,000 and $19,000 to be smuggled into the United States. They identified Audelo-Rodriquez as the captain of the vessel, and Brado-Cota as the co-captain, according to court documents.
Each year, the Coast Guard encounters roughly 3,000 migrants attempting to enter the U.S. illegally, according to the service. Its members conduct about 1,400 boardings of high-interest vessels designated as posing a greater-than-normal risk to America.
