CLOSE A Mexican law-enforcement helicopter opened fire Thursday near U.S. agents working at the border. 
 
 The Mexican agents were conducting a mission on the southern side of the border when they crossed 100 yards into Arizona on the Tohono O'Odham Nation, according to a statement from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. (Photo: David Wallace/The Republic) Story Highlights Mexican agents were conducting a mission just south of the border. 
 
 Customs and Border Protection says two shots were fired after helicopter crossed into U.S. 
 
 A top Mexican official Friday denied a report by Customs and Border Protection that a Mexican helicopter crossed the border into Arizona and fired shots near U.S. agents Thursday. 
 
 Tomas Zeron de Lucio, senior director of the Criminal Investigation Agency of the Mexican Attorney General's Office, said in a statement that the helicopter was taking part in a raid on a ranch near the border being used by a criminal organization to smuggle drugs and illegal immigrants across the border into the United States 
 
 As helicopters from the Mexican Attorney General's Office and the Secretary of National Defense approached the ranch, they were fired upon by the traffickers, Zeron de Lucio said. He said those were the only shots fired. 
 
 The incident happened a little over 100 yards from the border, he said. 
 
 "I don't believe we crossed the border, because we had our (navigation devices), but it was exactly 100 meters from the border," he said, according to a transcript of a conference he held with reporters in Mexico City. 
 
 He also said the operation was coordinated beforehand with the CBP. 
 
 He said Mexican authorities believe the ranch was being used to smuggle 400 migrants per day into the U.S during the summer season. 
 
 Mexican authorities apprehended 27 migrants from Mexico and 13 from Central America. The manager of the ranch was also arrested, he said. 
 
 "With the seizure of the La Sierrita ranch, the flow of a large quantity of migrants and drugs crossing from Mexico to the United States has been stopped," Zeron de Lucio said. "These actions by the Mexican government reaffirm our commitment to combating organized crime." 
 
 Earlier Friday, the CBP issued a statement saying that two shots had been fired at its agents. 
 
 The CBP report said the Mexican agents were conducting a mission on the southern side of the border Thursday morning when they crossed 100 yards into Arizona on the Tohono O'odham Reservation. 
 
 There were no injuries, and Border Patrol officials are investigating the incident, the statement said.. 
 
 There have been more than 300 border incursions by Mexican military and law-enforcement authorities in the past decade, according to figures released recently by U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif. 
 
 Hunter said in a news release last week that the figures were provided by the Department of Homeland Security. The DHS did not respond to a request for confirmation. 
 
 Hunter's data indicated that 152 of the incidents involved armed subjects. Of those, 81 incidents involved physical or verbal contact. 
 
 In January, two Mexican soldiers crossed into the U.S. near Sasabe and drew weapons on Border Patrol agents. The soldiers claimed they were in pursuit of three suspects, according to an incident report from the CBP. They lowered their weapons after speaking with U.S. agents and returned to Mexico about 45 minutes after the incident began. 
 
 The CBP declined to comment beyond its statement. Here's a full statement: 
 
 "At approximately 5:45 a.m. Thursday morning, a Mexican law-enforcement helicopter crossed approximately 100 yards north into Arizona nearly 8 miles southwest of the Village of San Miguel on the Tohono O'odham Indian Nation while on a law- enforcement operation near the border. Two shots were fired from the helicopter, but no injuries or damage to U.S. property were reported. The incident is currently under investigation." 
 
 Read or Share this story: http://azc.cc/1lxCaaS ||||| PHOENIX (Reuters) - U.S. authorities are investigating after two shots were fired from a Mexican law enforcement helicopter when it crossed the border into Arizona, although no injuries or damage to U.S. property were reported, the U.S. Border Patrol said on Friday. 
 
 The U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement the incident took place early on Thursday at the Tohono O'odham Indian Nation reservation in southern Arizona. 
 
 "A Mexican law enforcement helicopter crossed approximately 100 yards (100 meters) north into Arizona nearly 8 miles (13 km) southwest of the Village of San Miguel," U.S. border officials in Tucson said. "The incident is currently under investigation." 
 
 A spokesman for Mexico's federal prosecutor said the incident had "apparently involved an army helicopter" but declined to elaborate. Mexican army officials could not immediately be reached for comment. 
 
 Shawn Moran, vice president of the National Border Patrol Council, which represents some 17,000 border agents, said the shots were fired at a Border Patrol vehicle. 
 
 Early information indicated that the Mexican military forces had been conducting an operation south of the border at the time, he said. 
 
 "One of the helicopters apparently crossed the line and fired on a marked border patrol vehicle," Moran said. "They missed all the agents." 
 
 He said he did not know how many U.S. agents were involved. 
 
 "It is my understanding that they (the Mexican military) went back across the border and contacted the U.S. and apologized for the incident," he said. 
 
 The U.S. southern border has often been the scene of law enforcement operations to counter drug trafficking gangs and illegal immigrant smugglers. 
 
 U.S. Representative Duncan Hunter, a California Republican, said last week the Department of Homeland Security told him there had been 300 documented incursions into the United States by Mexican military and law enforcement authorities since 2004. 
 
 Of the 300 incidents, Hunter's office said, 152 of them had involved armed subjects. 
 
 (Additional reporting by Lizbeth Diaz in Mexico City and Marty Graham in San Diego; Writing by Daniel Wallis; Editing by Cynthia Johnston, Susan Heavey and Bill Trott) ||||| With Tuesday's death, at least 10 agents have been killed in the line of duty in the Tucson Sector of the U.S. Border Patrol. Previous deaths: 
 
 In March 2006, Agent Nicholas Greenig, 28, died when a car he was riding in hit a cow on Arizona 86 near Why, 110 miles west of Tucson. 
 
 Prior to that, Agent David Webb died in a rollover crash west of Tucson in November 2006. 
 
 The last Border Patrol agent killed on duty in the Tucson Sector was Michael V. Gallagher, 32, who was killed in September in a wreck patrolling on the Tohono O'odham Nation. 
 
 Agent Brian A. Terry, 40, was killed when he and fellow agents exchanged fire with a group of five people about 11 p.m. in a remote area west of Rio Rico, said FBI spokeswoman Brenda Nath. 
 
 A Border Patrol agent was shot and killed Tuesday night during a gunbattle with suspected bandits. 
 
 Four people, including one suffering gunshot wounds, were taken into custody. Authorities were searching for a fifth suspect Wednesday, said Rick Barlow, deputy chief in the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector. 
 
 Agent Brian A. Terry, 40, of the agency's swat team called Bortac, was killed when he and fellow agents exchanged fire with a group of five people believed to be border bandits about 11 p.m. Tuesday in a remote area west of Rio Rico, said FBI spokeswoman Brenda Nath. 
 
 Agent Brandon Judd, president of the agents' union in Arizona, Local 2544, was the first to publicly say bandits were responsible for the killing. Bandits are criminals who try to rip-off loads of drugs and people from smugglers. 
 
 Four of the five suspected bandits were in custody Wednesday morning, including one man who was hospitalized for gunshot wounds, he said. The severity of his injuries are unknown. The search for the fifth suspected bandit lasted much of the day and involved officers on horseback and in helicopters scanning the canyons and hills surrounding the Nogales area. 
 
 Santa Cruz County Sheriff's deputies found a man just before 2 p.m. on southbound Interstate 19 south of Rio Rico about 10 miles from the Mexico border, said Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada. The man has been turned over to the Border Patrol but it doesn't appear he is a suspect. 
 
 Terry and his fellow agents from the Bortac team were in the area where the shooting occurred because of the high levels of illegal activity involving armed border bandits. 
 
 "It wasn't a surprise encounter," Judd said. "They knew what they were going into." 
 
 Border Patrol spokesman Eric Cantu declined to confirm Judd's account. 
 
 Bandits are the lowest of the low among criminals operating along the border, despised even by the drug and people smuggling organizations, Judd said. 
 
 "This is the biggest scum that you are going to run up against," Judd said. 
 
 The shooting occurred in a remote area near Forest Service Road 4197, west of Interstate 19 , said Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada. 
 
 When deputies arrived at Peck Canyon Drive and Circulo Sombrero in Rio Rico, they found Terry dead from gunshot wounds, Estrada said. 
 
 The remote area where the shooting occurred is an area frequently used by drug traffickers and people-smugglers. 
 
 "All these canyons in Santa Cruz County are notorious for smuggling humans and drugs," Estrada said. "Obviously, it is a very dangerous situation for anyone patrolling those remote areas, particularly for Border Patrol. There is always that threat." 
 
 Santa Cruz Sheriff's Department was only serving in a support role, Estrada said. The FBI is handling the investigation. 
 
 "Our thoughts and prayers are with the Terry family for their tragic loss," CBP Commissioner Alan Bersin said in a news release. "Our commitment to Agent Terry and his family is that we will do everything possible to bring to justice those responsible for this despicable act." 
 
 Terry wasn't married. He is survived by parents and siblings, Judd said. He called Michigan home and his parents live there. He was a police officer for nine years in Detroit before joining the Border Patrol just over three years ago, Judd said. 
 
 Terry was a great guy and well liked by colleagues, said Judd, who worked with Terry in Naco. He was a big, muscular guy who stood about 6-foot-4. He was ideal for Bortac, one of the Border Patrol's elite crews. 
 
 "He was, by all accounts, an absolutely outstanding agent," Judd said. "He was everything you would want on this team." 
 
 Terry was strong-willed, very focused and "lived to protect his country," said his older sister, Michelle Terry-Balogh via phone from her home in southern Detroit. 
 
 Born in Flat Rock, Mich. Terry served as a Marine, went to college and worked for two different Michigan police departments before joining the Border Patrol three years ago. 
 
 The shooting elicited mixed feelings for Judd, who is president of the agents' union in Arizona, Local 2544. 
 
 "You are very saddened when you hear something like this, especially when you know the individual," Judd said. "You are also upset that the activity is such that it continues to present a very dangerous situation for our agents." 
 
 Check back with AzStarnet.com for updates.
– "They just ran me over, bro." Those words are echoing across social media today after a Border Patrol vehicle was caught on video apparently striking a Native American man and driving away, the New York Times reports. Shot by the man on his phone, the video shows him approaching the SUV on a dirt road in Tohono O'odham Nation, roughly 60 miles southwest of Tucson, Arizona. Instead of slowing or stopping, the vehicle knocks him over. Paulo Remes says he was bruised and taken to hospital, the Arizona Daily Star reports. "I'm doing all right, I'm just a little sore, really," he says. The 34-year-old says he noticed the SUV and walked onto the road, figuring he knew what would happen. "I ran into the dirt road in front of my house, because I know they’ll try and hit me," says Remes. "I think he saw me on the landline and didn’t think I was recording." The FBI, the US Attorney's Office, and the tribe's police department are now investigating. And Indivisible Tohono, an organization that sheds light on border policies, is posting the video on Facebook and Twitter. "This is an example of the fear O’odham have to face everyday because BP ravage our communities & are careless with our lives," the group says in a tweet. Tensions have risen since tribal leaders opposed letting President Trump build a border wall there, and the land became a transit hub for drug traffickers and illegal immigrants.