Mario and I went to sleep pretty late Saturday night (the 8th). I didn’t feel like waking up the next morning and because I still had that strange feeling about going to Mario’s Grandpa’s property I wondered if I should wake Mario up at all and just forget the whole thing. But no. I knew if I did that he’d be upset. So I got up at 9am and woke him up at 9:30. Mom stayed with the kids and we were out the door with ammunition and weapons in tow by 10:30.
We took the scenic route in Mario’s truck and saw an array of birds, like cranes and parrots. It was such a nice day, sunny and breezy. All the way over there I questioned Mario and nagged about this being a bad idea. I clearly remember his words: “When I start to worry, then you can worry, okay?” Besides, his uncles would practice there all the time.
I was nervous, but I believed Mario and started to calm down. I took pictures of the beautiful scenery before me: Mario’s grandfather’s property is right on the Rio Grande River border with Mexico. The property’s on a cliff and you can see the river below and the brushy fields of Mexico just on the other side. There’s about 10-15 feet of space between the fence of the property and the edge of the cliff.
I actually got kind of excited watching Mario shoot his handgun at the paper target he placed on the large mound of dirt, or berm. I wanted to try. He reloaded it and let me try. It was an unexpected jolt, that first shot, so I closed my eyes and Mario corrected me and told me to aim as best as I could. So I did better. We took pictures of each other and then Mario started shooting with the AR-15. It looked so awesome. Mario reloaded and handed me the rifle. It felt sort of uncomfortable and I kept changing my mind because I thought I’d dislocate my shoulder or something if the gun kicked back too hard, but I did even better with the rifle than I did with the handgun. I even hit a few targets!
Mario was on his way to reload the Glock when we see a Sullivan City police cruiser drive up in the tiny space between the fence and the cliff. My heart sinks and I shoot a look at Mario that says, “TOLD YOU SO!” He hands me the Glock and I put it on the bed of the truck. Mario was already at the fence speaking to the officers by the time I got enough courage to walk over there myself. They asked if we knew it was illegal to be shooting there. Mario said, “No, sir, I didn’t.” The first cop, who was being really aggressive, told Mario, “Oh, c’mon! You know you can’t be shooting here.” He immediately gets on his phone and we turn our attention to the other cop. He was an old co-worker of Mario’s back from his hospital days. They started catching up and then he updates Mario on what’s going on and why they’re there. Turns out they got a call from someone reporting that people were shooting into the Rio Grande River, which is illegal. Then they heard that people were exchanging fire between Mexico and the U.S. Then they heard that someone had gotten shot in the arm and was being transported to a hospital in somewhere called Santander. It was all too much to take in. They didn’t have a straight story, but what alarmed me was that someone might possibly be hurt. We were just there to practice and all of a sudden one of us may have shot someone, more than likely ME because I missed a shot. Just one freaking shot.
When the cops had walked away I whispered to Mario, “Are you worried yet?” He squeezes my shoulder and says, “No, I’m not.” I asked him what they said before I got to the fence and he said they asked if we’d heard any screaming. I thought, “WHAT? How terrible!”
They told us they’d have to hold us there for questioning and filing statements; something I never thought I’d have to do in my life. My head was spinning. I just wanted to know if I did shoot someone. Border Patrol showed up with their own AR-15’s to “back-up” the cops because they, too, were told that there was an exchange of fire. By now I was bawling and all these thoughts were going through my head like, “How much will we be fined for shooting here illegally? Did I hurt someone? What if the bullet had gone just a few inches to the right or left–I could have killed someone! Will I go to jail? Will I see my kids again?”
The cops noticed I was inconsolable and the aggressive one softened up. The one that new Mario walked up to me and said, “Ma’am, don’t get that way. You didn’t do anything wrong. It was an accident. Don’t get sad.” But still, no matter what anyone said, I couldn’t help but feel a ball of guilt in my chest.
Border Patrol left because they figured out they had nothing to do there. Everyone was getting frustrated because stories were being criss-crossed here and there and they weren’t getting anywhere. The cops were communicating with someone on the other side of the river; shouting responses and gesturing with their hands. This was around the time Jorge, Jose and Isiah got there. I turned to Mario when I heard feet crunching on branches behind me and said, “Oh no.” The last thing I needed was to be made fun of or be scolded. Neither of which ever happened. Jorge saw me crying and said, “Don’t cry, you didn’t do anything wrong. It was an accident.” Mario was being great and held me and said everything he needed to say to keep me from hyperventilating and passing out. Mario called his mom during this time to let her know what was going on. She rushed over there between one of her meetings stayed with us for moral support. Jose crossed over the fence to see what was going on and talk with the cops. We couldn’t see what was going on over the cliff, but he said they’d been shouting and gesturing to a group of men on the other side; men who were supposedly working in the fields, which later raised questions because only two of the men had hoes and the fields hadn’t been worked on in 10 years. They’re still not sure if they’re the ones who called, because whoever called, called the Sullivan City police and it wasn’t a hospital or any type of institution. Jorge and Jose were convinced that these guys were ready to cross.
About half an hour later the Sheriffs show up. We give them our details and he asks Mario, “Is she your girlfriend? Wife?” and Mario says, “Wife. 9 years.” The sherriff chuckles and says,”Happy couple? You’ve got to be after 9 years! Only a happy couple would shoot together and not at each other!” LOL. We apologized for shooting in the property. The officer said, “Who said you couldn’t shot here?” and Mario replied, “Well, the cops from Sullivan did.” The sheriff shakes his head and says, “This isn’t part of the city. This is County. You have every right to shoot here as long as you’re following the rules — which you were by shooting at the berm — and as long as you’re not shooting into the river, across the river, or towards houses.” I shook my head and tell him, “I don’t understand how I can’t hit a bull’s eye on the paper target, but I shoot the only Mexican standing on the other side of the river.” I didn’t mean it to be funny at the time, but he laughed LOL.
So we weren’t going to be fined. Now it was a matter of finding out if this guy was okay. Sobbing, I asked the sheriff if they knew if “he” was okay; that we’d even take care of hospital bills, I just wanted to know if he was okay. He, like everyone else, tells me not to cry and that so far they couldn’t identify anyone and now they’re wondering if anyone got shot at all.
We were there another hour before they heard anything else. Mary had left to her other meeting and Jorge, Jose and Isiah stayed with us. I told them they should go; it was hot and we were going to be there a while and they shouldn’t have to suffer for my mistake. They said we’re family and we stick together. Aww :*). I’m so glad they were there. They helped us relax a little and they’d joke around and we even went to the fence of the ranch next door to feed mesquite tree greens to the goats. I kept thinking about Carmen’s babyshower and how I was going to miss it. I texted her to let her know I wouldn’t be making it.
Meanwhile, the sherriffs had been making calls to every hospital in the area in Mexico and nobody had any info on anyone who’d been shot in the arm, or taken in for being shot anywhere on their body. They also started questioning the path of the bullet; it was windy, which wouldn’t affect it’s direction too much, but the area where the man was supposedly shot and the area where we were standing and shooting on the property weren’t adding up. We got cards from the sherriffs in case we needed to speak to them and the older of the two men told me again that I hadn’t done anything wrong and we could continue to practice if we liked. The younger one even told us how to create a higher, less-penetrable berm.
They stayed with us till the crime scene investigator showed up a while later. He took our info, our statements, took pictures of the crime scene (my gosh, I never thought I’d be saying that either) which was just pictures of the berm, the targets, and the casings that were littered on the ground; all the while joking with us and trying to keep us calm. He also told us we weren’t doing anything wrong and that, so far, it didn’t seem like anyone did get shot. He said I would have had to be standing on the edge of the cliff, shooting down in order to have hit anyone on the other side. He said, “This guy would have had to be the unluckiest guy in the world to get hit with a stray, one-in-a-million bullet, and I doubt yours was the millionth one.”
So I felt much better after that. They held our weapons just in case someone who’d gotten shot came forward; then they’d have to run ballistics. It’s been two weeks and we haven’t gotten them back, so I’m assuming that no news is good news.
We all went to eat at El Pato after that. We were starving. Mario and I hadn’t even had breakfast that morning and it was now 4:30pm. Now we were alright and somewhat in the clear and everyone took the opportunity to joke around. Jorge started calling me Annie Oakley, and now everyone calls me that LOL. We get home and Andy and Noelia are on their way to visit and Andy’s dubbed me Killer! By the time we’d made it home both sides of the family had somehow gotten word about our fiasco and were calling to make sure we were alright. Word really travels fast!