The U.S. Coast Guard announced that a person from the Dominican Republic was killed after the Coast Guard fired at a fleeing boat in the Caribbean Sea smuggling an estimated $11 million worth of cocaine. Coast Guard officials aboard a U.S. Navy ship fired warning shots and disabling fire during the Jan. 1 incident and discovered an injured crew member when they boarded the boat. The injured person was medically evacuated to the Dominican Republic, where they later died. The person was not identified, and no further details were immediately available. Fatal shootings by the Coast Guard are rare, and spokesman Lt. Cmdr. John W. Beal stated that the Coast Guard takes any loss of life seriously and is working to investigate the incident.
Aside from the fatality, two other suspected smugglers were arrested and 848 pounds (385 kilograms) of cocaine were seized from the boat by the Coast Guard. Related Stories were included in the content.