American Scene

ARIZONA

Hiker’s body found in canyon

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK | Authorities say they have found a body in Grand Canyon National Park and believe it is that of a Northern Arizona University student missing on a hiking trip.

Search and rescue crews have been looking for 20-year-old Bryce Gillies since Tuesday. Park officials say a body tentatively identified as that of Mr. Gillies was found Saturday morning less than half a mile from the confluence of Bonita Creek and the Colorado River on the North Rim, along with a backpack and personal items. They say the Coconino County Medical Examiner’s Office will try to identify the body and determine the cause of death. Search crews found Mr. Gillies’ car Wednesday. Authorities say he started his hike July 18 with plans to come home last Monday. Mr. Gillies’ father called park officials Tuesday when his son failed to return.

CALIFORNIA

Four arrested in border agent’s death

CHULA VISTA | Police in Mexico have announced the arrests of four men in connection with the killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent, as their counterparts in the United States search hospitals for suspects possibly wounded in the first such shooting in more than a decade.

The men detained in Mexico are suspected of being part of an immigrant smuggling ring, and 21 people were found with them when police detained them and seized four guns near Tecate, Mexico, said Elias Alvarez Hernandez, coordinator of federal police in Baja California state.

Mexico police did not say what evidence they had against the four, whom they identified as Jose Quintero Ruiz, 43, and his brother Jose Eugenio Quintero Ruiz, 49, and taxi drivers Jose Alfredo Camacho, 34, and Antonio Valladares, 57. Agent Robert Rosas was killed Thursday while responding alone to a suspected border incursion near Campo, a town in rugged, arid terrain in southeastern San Diego County.

COLORADO

Soldiers recount Iraq horrors

COLORADO SPRINGS | Soldiers from an Army unit that had 10 infantrymen accused of murder, attempted murder or manslaughter after returning to civilian life described a breakdown in discipline during their Iraq deployment in which troops murdered civilians, a newspaper reported Sunday.

Some Fort Carson, Colo.-based soldiers have had trouble adjusting to life back in the United States, saying they refused to seek help or were belittled or punished for seeking help. Others say they were ignored by their commanders or coped through drug and alcohol abuse before they allegedly committed crimes, the Gazette of Colorado Springs said. The Gazette based its report on months of interviews with soldiers and their families, medical and military records, court documents and photographs. Several soldiers said unit discipline deteriorated while in Iraq.

“Toward the end, we were so mad and tired and frustrated,” Daniel Freeman said. “You came too close, we lit you up. You didn’t stop, we ran your car over with the Bradley,” an armored fighting vehicle.

CONNECTICUT

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