In this Aug. 29, 2011 photo provided by the U.S. Coast Guard, a Rescue Helicopter from Airs Station Los Angeles conducts a close fly-by of the Coast Guard Cutter Halibut. A smuggler's vessel rammed a small U.S. Coast Guard boat deployed by the cutter Halibut, off the Southern California coast early Monday, Dec. 3, 2012, killing one Coast Guard member and injuring another, authorities said. The cutter was conducting an investigation into suspected smuggling near the Channel Islands west of Malibu. (AP Photo/U.S. Coast Guard/Steve Lee)
In this Aug. 29, 2011 photo provided by the U.S. Coast Guard, a Rescue Helicopter from Airs Station Los Angeles conducts a close fly-by of the Coast Guard Cutter Halibut. A smuggler's vessel rammed a small U.S. Coast Guard boat deployed by the cutter Halibut, off the Southern California coast early Monday, Dec. 3, 2012, killing one Coast Guard member and injuring another, authorities said. The cutter was conducting an investigation into suspected smuggling near the Channel Islands west of Malibu. (AP Photo/U.S. Coast Guard/Steve Lee)
This undated photo provided by the U.S. Coast Guard shows Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Terrell Horne III, stationed on the Cutter Halibut. Horne III, a Boatswain Mate, was killed in the early morning of Sunday Dec. 2, 2012, from injuries sustained during law enforcement operations near Santa Cruz Island, Calif. Horne, of Redondo Beach, was pronounced dead after being brought ashore at the Port of Hueneme, Ventura County chief deputy medical examiner James Baroni said. He suffered a traumatic head injury in the crash before dawn, Coast Guard officials said. (AP Photo/U.S. Coast Guard/ Lt. Stewart Sibert)
SAN DIEGO (AP) ? Drug smugglers from Mexico have been creeping farther north along the California coast in an attempt to evade authorities, and it appears the cat-and-mouse game was behind the death of a U.S. Coast Guardsman.
Two Mexican nationals ? Jose Meija Leyva and Manuel Beltran Higuera ? were charged Monday in Los Angeles with killing a federal officer while the officer was on duty.
Chief Petty Officer Terrell Horne, 34, died Sunday after he was struck in the head by the suspects' vessel, believed to be laden with drugs, near the Channel Islands, west of Los Angeles and about 180 miles northwest of the U.S.-Mexico border.
Horne is the first law enforcement official to die off California since a spike in illegal activity began several years ago, said Ralph DeSio, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman.
At least six people aboard suspected smuggling vessels have been killed since the 2010 fiscal year.
The Halibut, an 87-foot patrol cutter based in Marina del Rey, was dispatched after a Coast Guard C-130 plane spotted the 30-foot "panga" vessel was spotted without lights near Santa Cruz Island, the largest of the eight Channel Islands, according to a criminal complaint.
The cutter contains a 21-foot-long rigid-hull inflatable boat that the Coast Guard routinely uses on missions that require more speed and agility than the cutter can deliver.
As Horne and his team came within about 20 yards of the suspect vessel in their inflatable boat, the suspects' vessel gunned its engine, knocking Horne and Brandon Langdon into the water, according to the complaint. Langdon was treated for a knee injury and two other crew members aboard the inflatable boat were unharmed in the collision at 1:20 a.m.
Coast Guard spokesman Adam Eggers said waiting for the vessel to make landfall would have introduced other risks and logistical challenges. The Coast Guard's mandate, he said, is to interdict at sea.
"As of right now, there are absolutely zero questions about whether they followed proper protocol," Eggers said.
Coast Guard crews followed the suspects by air and sea for nearly four hours until the vessel's engine died 20 miles north of the Mexican border, according to the complaint. An officer used pepper spray on both suspects.
Meija Leyva identified himself as the captain and told authorities he was taking gasoline to lost friends, according to the complaint. Beltran Higuera told authorities he was offered $3,000 to deliver gasoline to another boat that was waiting for them, but they never found it.
The complaint makes no mention of drugs being found on the boat.
Attorneys for both men did not immediately respond to phone messages seeking comment. A judge scheduled a preliminary hearing for Dec. 17.
In growing numbers, smugglers are turning to the California coast to bring people and drugs to the United States from Mexico. The number of Border Patrol agents on land has doubled in the past eight years and hundreds of miles of fences and other barriers have been erected, driving smugglers to the Pacific Ocean.
U.S. authorities spotted 210 suspected smuggling vessels on California shores during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, up 15 percent from 183 incidents the previous year and more than quadruple the 45 incidents in 2008.
More than half the sightings are in San Diego County, which borders Mexico, but boats are turning up as far north as San Luis Obispo County on California's central coast. According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 14 incidents were in Los Angeles County last year, seven in Ventura County and 11 in Santa Barbara County.
Migrants pay thousands of dollars to launch from beaches and small fishing villages south of Tijuana, Mexico. They typically use old, single-engine wooden fishing skiffs known as "pangas."
In one typical case in October, a Mexican woman told authorities she agreed to pay $12,000. A criminal complaint says she was among 16 people ? all but one a suspected illegal immigrant from Mexico ? found in a 31-foot vessel that appeared to be taking water in the Newport Beach harbor.
In September, authorities seized 3,475 pounds of marijuana from a boat that landed near Hearst Castle on the central coast.
The Halibut's commanding officer, Lt. Stewart Sibert, choked back tears at a news conference Monday, saying he and his crew were devastated by the loss of Horne and that the Redondo Beach man the best shipmate he ever knew.
"He was my friend, he was my confidante," Sibert said, "he was the glue that held my crew together."
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Associated Press writer Robert Jablon in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
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