May 18, 2013
Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2012
BISBEE, Ariz. (AP) -- Authorities have identified the Border Patrol agent who was shot to death overnight in Arizona near the U.S. border with Mexico as 30-year-old Nicolas Ivie.
A second agent who was wounded by the gunfire has not been identified.
It's the first fatal shooting of an agent since a deadly firefight with Mexican bandits two years ago that prompted Congress to look into a botched government gun-smuggling investigation.
Critics of "Operation Fast and Furious" say any time there's a shooting along the border now, it will raise the question of whether the weapons that were supposed to be tracked in that investigation are still being used in border violence.
The FBI, which is investigating today's shooting, isn't saying whether investigators have recovered guns or bullet casings at the scene.
Authorities have set up a checkpoint on a dirt road. Agents at the checkpoint are declining to comment, and they're keeping reporters from going past. Two helicopters from federal immigration agencies could be seen circling the area.
(Copyright 2012, The Associated Press)
