Patrol Inspector Ivan E. Scotten was shot and killed in the early morning of July 20, 1929, during a gun battle following the ambush of Scotten and three other Patrol Inspectors at the upper Los Pompos crossing on the Rio Grande River, near San Elizario, Texas, by Mexican alien smugglers numbering 15 or 20. The smugglers, who had come off second best in a brush with Patrol Inspectors earlier in the night, saw the lights of the returning patrol car, crossed the river to the American side, and hid themselves in the brush at the side of the narrow road along an irrigation ditch which the road crossed. They opened fire on the patrol car from two sides at almost point blank range, killing Scotten before the other officers succeeded in driving them off. One of the smugglers fired a shot through Scotten's head while Scotten lay wounded in the road.