A truck drives on the Mexican-side of the border fence between Naco and the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation area in this 2007 file photo. Two agents assigned to the Border Patrol's Naco station were shot Tuesday morning. One agent died.
A U.S. Border Patrol agent was killed and another wounded early today in a shooting near the U.S.-Mexico border.
A massive manhunt for the killer continues this morning across the rolling hills near Arizona 80 between Bisbee and Douglas.
The agents were on duty near Naco when the shooting occurred about 2 a.m., according to a statement released by the U.S. Border Patrol. The agency isn't releasing details about exactly where it happened or how it happened.
The wounded agent was airlifted to a hospital, the Border Patrol said. He was reportedly shot in the ankle and buttocks and. He suffered non-life threatening injuries and was out of surgery this morning.
The incident is being investigated by the Cochise County Sheriff's Office and the FBI. Agents and deputies were searching the area near the shooting site on horseback, all-terrain vehicles and on foot.
Helicopters were sweeping over the hilltops as part of the manhunt, a witness said.
The agents were assigned to the Naco station. It was recently renamed to honor Brian Terry, who was slain in a shootout with border bandits in 2010 near Nogales. The shooting was later linked to the Fast and Furious gun-smuggling operation.
The agent's name is being withheld until his family is notified.
This is the 11th agent to die on duty in the Tucson Sector since 1924, and the first since agent Terry was killed in December 2010.
Poster Comment:
"Por La Raza todo. Fuera de La Raza nada" (Everything for the Race - Nothing outside the Race)