Border Patrol Agent Returns Fire, Kills Shooter in New Mexico

Officials say an El Paso Sector Border Patrol agent exchanged gunfire with a subject on Monday morning in Sunland Park, New Mexico. The agent returned fire, striking and killing the alleged shooter.

A U.S. Border Patrol agent came under fire near the Mexican border Monday morning after encountering a group of four people, according to a statement from El Paso Sector Border Patrol officials.

Officials tweeted the agent returned fire and that one person was transported to an area hospital. Doctors reported the subject died from his wounds at the hospital, officials stated. No Border Patrol agents received injuries during the exchange of gunfire, say federal authorities.

“During the encounter, the subject produced a firearm and shot at the agent,” El Paso Sector officials reported. “The agent returned fire striking the subject. An agent rendered aid to the subject until emergency medical personnel arrived.”

No additional information about the events leading up to the shooting is available at this time. The shooting will be investigated by the FBI and the CBP Office of Professional Responsibility.

Last week, Del Rio Sector Border Patrol agents encountered an alleged human smuggler who had a 9mm pistol in the door pocket of the vehicle driven by the smuggler, Breitbart Texas reported. One day before that, Brackettville Station agents found a backpack containing another 9mm pistol in an area where a human smuggler and a group of migrants had been found.

“Smugglers arming themselves with firearms is becoming a common trend,” Del Rio Sector Chief Patrol Agent Raul L. Ortiz said in a written statement. “This poses a threat to not only our agents but the community and those being smuggled as well.”