An Arizona man was shot 16 times after being caught in the crossfire of warring gangs along the southern border. But he doesn't hold much malice towards the gunmen who put his life in danger.
Craig Ricketts was shot twice in the leg and arm on Christmas Eve as he drove from Mexico to Tempe, Arizona, to see his son, according to reports.
he told Arizona family He was traveling through northwestern Sasabe, a volatile border route, when the shooting began, with the Lukeville checkpoint closed, when at least 16 shots from a smuggling ring hit his car.
“The first thing I noticed was that the left window was broken. I saw bullet holes in the windshield and the radio was blown out by bullets,” he told the station from his Tucson hospital bed this week.
“I got hit once on the arm, like when I was a kid I got hit on my bike, and the other one was on my left leg,” Ricketts said.
The Sonora state attorney general's office said the shooting was the second time in the last month that an American was arrested during violence, the newspaper reported.
Ricketts initially wanted to cross the border in Nogales and avoid the closed Lukeville checkpoint, but Ricketts' GPS reportedly led him to the Sasabe entry point in Sonora state. The State Department advises Americans to avoid the area due to crime.
The Christmas Eve shooting came a week after a U.S. resident was killed and two others injured in a shooting incident along a highway in Sonora. The Arizona Republic reported.
Ricketts works in the construction of real estate developments in Puerto Libertad, Sonora, and has also worked in Mexico for 20 years, Arizona Family reported.
Despite the horrifying episode, Ricketts was clearly not angry at the gang who rained down bullets on him, the station said.
“The bottom line is they don't know who I am,” he said. “They just wanted to ensure access for smugglers.”
