The FBI requested a warrant to search a vehicle they believe may have “trace evidence associated with the murder of a Border Patrol agent and the assault of another,” according to the document. The death of the Border Patrol agent and the injuries to another have sparked extreme controversy with many on the right and Border Patrol agents believing an attack occurred, while many on the left pushed a narrative that an accident had occurred.
The FBI Special Agent said the “source of information” (SOI) provided tips to a Border Patrol agent about the “likely perpetrators of the assault,” in the warrant first reported by KTSM NBC9 in El Paso. KTSM News Director Liz O’Hara confirmed the authenticity of the warrant to Breitbart Texas in a phone conversation on Wednesday evening. Breitbart Texas subsequently obtained copies of the filing directly from federal court records.
The SOI, who the FBI Special Agent says they know individuals engaged in the illegal transportation of aliens across the border, (commonly referred to as “coyotes”) reportedly told a Border Patrol agent about a local human smuggling operation. The group “discussed their assaults of the agents,” the warrant states. The FBI Special Agent says the SOI later learned the identity of the two people from one family who “assaulted the two Border Patrol agents with rocks.”
The FBI Special Agent states in the warrant that he believes the suspect would have been in close proximity to either victim, “during the assault, or possibly afterwards.”
During the course of the investigation, the FBI Special Agent says he identified a “subject vehicle” and that he believes “contains trace evidence associated with the murder of a Border Patrol agent and the assault of another, alien smuggling, and drug trafficking.”
The FBI Special Agent stated in the warrant that a passenger in the “subject vehicle” claimed she overheard one of the suspects “speaking to someone on the phone about crossing into the United States will illegal drugs to include methamphetamine and heroin.” The FBI Special Agent went on to say that drug traffickers use “couriers” to transport “backpack loads” across the border.
The FBI Special Agent says that one of the suspects was arrested on an immigration charge of illegal re-entry. The suspect appeared before a magistrate judge in Roswell, New Mexico, on November 29 on the alleged immigration violation.
On November 19, Breitbart Texas broke the story about the suspicious death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent and the injury of a second in the Big Bend Sector. Soon after the initial story, the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) publicly stated that the agents were following a group of illegal aliens when they were attacked with rocks.
NBPC President Brandon Judd exclusively revealed to Breitbart Texas the information they gathered at the time.
“What we know is that Border Patrol Agent Rogelio Martinez appears to have been ambushed by a group of illegal aliens whom he was tracking. Our agents’ reports from the ground say that he was struck in the head multiple times with a rock or rocks,” Judd said previously.
The version of events presented by the NBPC has been disputed by Culberson County Sheriff Oscar Carrillo, who told the Dallas Morning News that evidence gathered at the scene does not suggest an assault.
“From what I know and see, that was not the case here,” Carrillo told the Morning News.
The publicly available details have yet to rule out the possibility that an accident occurred, rather than an attack. Though the specifics of the area where the Border Patrol agents were found makes it unlikely that any fall could have resulted in such injuries to both agents; however, there still exists the possibility that a vehicular accident or attack may have occurred.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and Stephen K. Bannon. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX, GAB, and Facebook.
FBI Search Warrant – BP Agent Death – Copy Courtesy of KTSM NBC9 El Paso
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