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MAN CHARGED WITH MURDER IN SHOOTING OF MIGRANT
While the tensions on the Arizona border have received increasing media attention, the situation along the Texas border is at least as violent, and perhaps more so.  In the past year, there were five separate incidents in which local residents have shot migrants, including two within the past month.  According to long-time residents of the area, the increased violence is due not so much to changes in the migrant population as changes in the residents in south Texas. 
As ranching grows less profitable, land is sold to newcomers who are much more suspicious of migrants and more protective of their land.  As the Sheriff of Kinney County, Texas, says, "The average rancher has learned from his daddy and his granddaddy that the best thing to do is ignore the immigrants.  It's the newcomers who are scared of them and think they have to apprehend them." 
A District Attorney in the area notes that most of the shootings have occurred when the migrant was walking away.  One such incident occurred on May 13.  In that case, Sam Blackwood, a retiree from Arkansas who was new to the area, shot and killed a migrant who had asked him for water.  Blackwood told him to get off his land, and called the Border Patrol to report the migrant.  After noticing that his dog was gone, he went to investigate.  He fired shots as the migrant ran away, hitting him.  By the time police arrived, the migrant had bled to death. 
Blackwood has been charged with murder.  The sheriff believes Blackwood was trying to apprehend the migrant.  The shooting took place off Blackwood’s land.  Area residents were stunned by the shooting.  Many say Blackwood is not the sort of person who would do such a thing.  Others wondered why someone would shoot a person who had only asked for water.