TIJUANA, Mexico — The Hall family was driving back to California on the foggy coastal highway when a car flashing red lights and blaring its siren pulled up behind them. A police shakedown, Debra Hall thought as her husband, Christopher, veered to the side of the dark road.
Having made many trips to Baja California, they knew a payoff was just part of the price of a visit. This time, returning from the Baja 1000 off-road race, they figured $40 would suffice and they would be back at their California home within an hour.
Instead, heavily armed masked men surrounded their truck and trailer and pointed guns at their heads, the start of an hours-long assault that ended with Debra, Christopher and their two children running for their lives through the hills.
The Hall family’s ordeal last week was the latest in a string of assaults against Americans that has shocked longtime visitors and severely undercut a recent anti-crime initiative aimed at polishing Baja California’s image as a tourist-friendly destination. In a region where most visitors expect the occasional extortion attempt by police, the recent crime wave has seen attacks become more aggressive, often carried out by heavily armed men operating with paramilitary-style precision.
Surfers have been assaulted at gunpoint on beaches and campgrounds. One woman was sexually assaulted. Expensive trucks, trailers and boats have been carjacked.
The crime wave is enough to frighten some longtime visitors, including surf club owners who have canceled operations and some prominent off-road racers who might not compete in future Baja events.
Most of the assaults have occurred at night in the coastal area between Tijuana and San Quintin, a 190-mile stretch dotted with surf beaches, campgrounds, resorts and golf courses.
Surf school owner Pat Weber of Encinitas, Calif., and his girlfriend, Lori Hoffman, were assaulted in October in their recreational vehicle within sight of other campsites on a beach south of Ensenada.
Two masked assailants shot up the vehicle when Weber refused to open the door. For the next 45 minutes, the men terrorized the couple, who had gone to Mexico after evacuating their home during the wildfires.
Hoffman said she was sexually assaulted in front of her boyfriend. Then the men made off with $8,000 worth of laptop computers, jewelry, tools and other items. One of the men disappeared into the night with Weber’s guitar slung over his shoulder.
“These guys were not novices,” said Hoffman, who noted the attackers’ creased pants, combat boots and sharp shooting skills. The incident was reported to Ensenada police.
Many experts say the timing of the crime wave is curious, coming just ahead of a change in administrations in Tijuana. Critics say former Mayor Jorge Hank Rhon bloated the police payroll with unqualified and corrupt cops.
With rumors flying that the new mayor, whose term begins today, will fire hundreds of police, some rogue cops might be going on a last-minute crime spree, say some observers.
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