A last ditch call for help was placed to 911 by Marine Corps Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi, just minutes before Mexican federal officers arrested him for weapons possession when he says he took a wrong turn across the southern border.
This May 3, 2014, photo shows Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi left, who is being held at Tijuana's La Mesa Penitentiary. The 25-year-old Marine Corps combat veteran is being held on weapons charges for mistakenly crossing the border with a shotgun, handgun and rifle in his vehicle. (AP Photo)
TheBlaze obtained the 911 call late Thursday night and you can hear the concern in Tahmooressi's voice as he tells the 911 operator, "The problem is I crossed the border by accident and I have three guns in my truck and they're trying to take my guns from me."
The 911 call appears to confirm Tahmooressi's story that he had crossed into Mexico by mistake.
The operator asks, "So you're in Mexico?"
Tahmooressi says, "Yeah."
Then the 911 operator replies, "There's nothing I can help you with sir. I do apologize."
"I'm not sure if I've crossed yet," he answers and goes on to explain that he couldn't find a "turn around point."
The 25-year-old decorated war veteran and Florida native was undergoing treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder after enduring numerous tours of duty and surviving several IED blasts. He had only been in San Diego for 10 days when he took the wrong turn at the San Ysidro checkpoint, his mother Jill Tahmooressi told TheBlaze.
He had all his possessions in his vehicle because he was in the process of moving to San Diego for treatment. He still had not found a permanent place to live and used his car to store his possessions, his mother added.
He declared his weapons but Mexican federal agents confiscated them at the border as they took him into custody.
Tahmooressi was originally held in Tijuana’s La Mesa Penitentiary, where he was placed in general population and his life was threatened. He escaped over a wall and was captured on his second day in prison. They moved him to solitary and shackled his arms and legs to a bed for nearly 30 days. Last week he was moved to to a maximum-security prison about 40 miles outside of Tijuana.
Tahmooressi faces six to 21 years in a Mexican prison for carrying his registered AR-15 rifle, .45-caliber pistol and 12-gauge pump shotgun in his car across the border.
"I spoke with him by phone and he is more worried about me and that he's hungry," his mother told TheBlaze on Tuesday. "I need to stay here and fight for him and I have no one that can go there and visit him or bring him food. I'm terrified for my son but I'm not going to give up the fight."
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