Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017 | 8:57 a.m.
SAN DIEGO — U.S. officials have charged an accused human smuggler after two people were hit by a car and killed as they sprinted from a van that sped across the border crossing from Tijuana, Mexico, into San Diego County.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that Jorge Luis Martinez Hernandez was charged Monday with smuggling resulting in death and smuggling for financial gain. It wasn't immediately known if Hernandez, a Mexican national, has an attorney.
Officials say the van with nine people inside sped through San Ysidro Port of Entry and stopped on the U.S. side early Sunday.
As the van's occupants ran, an oncoming car fatally struck two of them.
The newspaper reports Martinez told investigators that he was going to be paid $1,000 for each unauthorized immigrant he guided into the U.S.
