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Border & Immigration

Manhunt for Suspect in Fatal Shooting of Border Patrol Agent

By Michel Marizco / Senior Field Correspondent
Published December 15, 2010 at 8:19 AM PST
This story was published more than 13 years ago.
Border Patrol and Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office vehicles block the entrance to a dirt road near Peck Canyon Drive and Circulo Jalapa where Terry was shot Tuesday night.
Michel Marizco
Border Patrol and Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office vehicles block the entrance to a dirt road near Peck Canyon Drive and Circulo Jalapa where Terry was shot Tuesday night.

A manhunt is underway Wednesday for a suspect who fatally shot a Border Patrol agent near Nogales, Arizona.

At about 11 p.m. Tuesday, Agent Brian A. Terry confronted an armed group in a rural area about 15 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border when at least one person shot the agent, officials said.

Terry, 40, was transported to a hospital, where he died early Wednesday morning, officials said.

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Four people from the group have been detained and law enforcement officers are searching the area for a fifth person, officials said. Numerous vehicles are swarming the area and helicopters are flying overhead. The FBI is assisting in the investigation.

The last Border Patrol agent shot and killed in the line-of-duty was Robert Wimer Rosas Jr., 30, in a rural area east of San Diego, California. On July 23, 2009, Rosas was shot multiple times after exiting his vehicle near the U.S.-Mexico border. Seven people were arrested, including the 17-year-old shooter, who was sentenced to 40 years in prison.

The last Border Patrol agent to die while working in Arizona was Michael V. Gallagher. On September 2, 2010, the agent's truck was struck by a drunk driver who ran a stop sign on the Tohono O'odham Reservation near Casa Grande, Arizona. The truck overturned and Gallagher, 32, was ejected. The drunk driver has been charged with voluntary manslaughter, DUI and other charges.

Terry is the 31st Border Patrol agent shot and killed while working, according to The Officer Down Memorial Page website. A total of 111 agents have died in varying circumstances since 1919.

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Border & Immigration Law Enforcement
Michel Marizco
Senior Field Correspondent Michel Marizco (Tucson) has reported along the Southwest border for the past decade, most of that in Arizona and Sonora. Before joining the Fronteras Desk, he produced stories in the field for CNN Madrid, the BBC, 60 Minutes Australia, and the CBC. His work now focuses on transnational trafficking syndicates, immigration, federal law enforcement and those weird, wild stories that make the U.S.-Mexico border such an inherently fascinating region. He is a contributing author on Shared Responsibility: U.S.-Mexico Policy Options for Confronting Organized Crime and an occasional writer at High Country News. In his spare time, he works with Investigative Reporters and Editors and the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, assisting in the ongoing investigations of journalist killings in Mexico.
See stories by Michel Marizco
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