Border Patrol agent killed in Arizona

Nicholas Ivie, 30, was shot and killed as he and two other Border Patrol agents were checking a motion sensor. / U.S. Customs and Border Protection

BISBEE, Ariz. A Border Patrol agent was shot to death Tuesday in Arizona near the U.S.-Mexico line, the first fatal shooting of an agent since a deadly 2010 firefight with Mexican bandits that spawned congressional probes of a botched government gun-smuggling investigation.

The agent, Nicholas Ivie, 30, and a colleague were on patrol in the desert near Naco, Ariz., about 100 miles from Tucson, when shooting broke out shortly before 2 a.m., the Border Patrol said. The second agent was shot in the ankle and buttocks, and was airlifted to a hospital.

Authorities have not identified the agent who was wounded, nor did they say whether any weapons were seized at the site of the shooting.

CBS News affiliate KPHO reports the agents had walked up a hill to check on a triggered motion sensor, according to Carol Capas of the Cochise County Sheriffs office. A third agent in the area was unharmed.

Capas said it is unknown if the agents shot back, but they were able to radio in that they were under fire.

The last Border Patrol agent fatally shot on duty was Brian Terry, who died in a shootout with bandits near the border in December 2010. The Border Patrol station in Naco, where the two agents shot Tuesday were stationed, was recently named after Terry.

Terry's shooting was later linked to the government's Fast and Furious gun-smuggling operation, which allowed people suspected of illegally buying guns for others to walk away from gun shops with weapons, rather than be arrested.

• Family of slain fed wants Fast and Furious firings

Authorities intended to track the guns into Mexico. Two rifles found at the scene of Terry's shooting were bought by a member of the gun-smuggling ring being investigated.

Critics of the operation say any shooting along the border now will raise the specter those illegal weapons are still being used in border violence.

"There's no way to know at this point how the agent was killed, but because of Operation Fast and Furious, we'll wonder for years if the guns used in any killing along the border were part of an ill-advised gun-walking strategy," Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley said in a written statement.

• Request to Justice Department IG: "Investigate ICE Agent Zapata Murder"

The Terry family said that the shooting was a "graphic reminder of the inherent dangers that threaten the safety of those who live and work near the border."

Capas said the news was "devastating."

"You know, we have such a vast amount of land to cover from our department's standpoint with 86 sworn officers, and that includes our administration. Border Patrol is an integral part of assisting us whenever we need backup on any type of call that we have, specifically when we are in the remote areas," he said, according to KPHO. "So it's very difficult for us right now."

No arrests have been made in the shooting. Investigators suspect that more than one person fired at the agents.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has ordered all DHS flags to fly at half-staff in Ivie's honor.

Cochise County Sheriff's Office and FBI, which are both investigating the shooting, declined to say whether investigators have recovered guns or bullet casings at the scene of the shooting.

Det. Bill Silva, left, with the Bisbee Police Department, and an unnamed agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration patrol a fence line east of Naco, Ariz., after a Border Patrol agent was killed early Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2012.

/ Mike Christy,AP Photo/Arizona Daily Star

Authorities set up a checkpoint on a dirt road about seven miles southeast of Bisbee. A Border Patrol truck and another vehicle carrying two portable toilets were allowed to drive past the roadblock.

Agents at the checkpoint declined to comment and barred reporters from going further. Two helicopters from federal immigration agencies could be seen from a distance circling the area. And a fugitive-chase team could be seen staging on a roadside.

The area near the shooting is scattered with houses, trailers and ranchettes. Mesquite trees and creosote bushes dotted the landscape, and a mountain range stands nearby to the west.

The U.S. government has put thousands of motion-detecting sensors along the border that, when tripped, alert dispatchers that they should send agents to a particular location.

The wounded agent is in stable condition and should be released from the hospital later Tuesday, said George McCubbin, president of the National Border Patrol Council, a union representing about 17,000 border patrol agents. The agents who were shot were on patrol with a third agent, who was not harmed, McCubbin said.

The Border Patrol said Ivie worked for the agency since January 2008 and grew up in Provo, Utah.

Twenty-six Border Patrol agents have died in the line of duty since 2002.

Bisbee-area residents expressed a mix of concern and frustration about the shooting, along with recognition that the border can be a dangerous place.

The region has seen its share of violence in recent years, including the Terry shooting and the slaying of a well-known rancher in 2010. That killing is, in part, credited with pushing Arizona lawmakers to pass a law that requires officers, when they stop someone, to check the immigration status of those they suspect are in the country illegally.

"There is no security on the border — none," said Edward L. Thomas, who owns rental properties in Bisbee.

[bell1423]

lastest border guard killing will be covered up ,left in doubt,by pressure from Obama camp. trying to say he was killed by another border guard or at least leaving doubt so like the last border guard that was killed wont be connected to the guns obama gave to the drug people fast an furious mess.Obama and hes goons,deny terrorist murders and attacks,like the killing and rape of our US ambassador an seals.like the army terrorist that killed all of those soldiers in ft hood.the fake jobs report,lying about Romney in political ads ,blaming bush,anyone not with them.Obama is a socialist,communist far left liberal were the ends justify the means. what ever it takes to be re elected at any cost to keep their power far left agendas

[TheJAG57]

The idea that a Border Patrol Agent has to fire a bean bag first when trying to stop illegals from coming into this country has put so many of these agents in danger; and to walk around un-armed is a bunch of stupid politics. The fact that we have people coming into this country from Mexico who have obtained fake identification and who have the money to buy their way into automobiles and across the border tells us that we have inside our country the same people that just killed this Border Patrol Agent. Rest in Peace. We really have to demand that Mexico become responsible for it's economic disastor and stop sending their drug cartels and their poorest of the poor here to become entangled in the web of violence and narcotics that pervade their lives. Children who are born of illegals claim citizenship because we pity the children. Who pities our children? It is harder for an American citizen to get help than it is for an illegal and we have to demand Mexico patrol its border. The Fast and Furious was the stupidest thing I have ever heard of, and now the cartels have the FBI's AK47s to shoot people who are against the drug cartels...that is STUPID. Hiring illegals should make you forfiet your entire lively hood just like a drug dealer - and prison sentence...no matter who you are, no executive priviledge allowed. Some discipline in this country for its politicians would help; and a 30, 60, and 90 day evaluation of the politicans who are in office would put them on notice. If after the first 30 days, 60, or 90 and repeated every 30 days, they do NOT do their job and do a good job, they get fired and we have the loser and the same process until these blood sucking politicians get the message. We take care of them for their entire lives - and yet they have the audacity to complain about anyone else...what a bunch of cads. Our country needs some discipline and our people should get to say when they leave by vote - not the electorial college vote either, but by the people.

[ludvig1-2009]

Since 1992 a total of 2,956 federal workers have died in the line of duty, with the overwhelming majority of them being in iraq and afghanistan. These are old numbers and don't include the one in the story here or the ranger in the Pacific Northwest who died trying to rescue stranded climbers falling 1000 feet to his death or the forest fire fighter. It's ironic that Republicans enjoy seeing dead federal workers so they can use them for political purposes but twice in one month voted to cut living federal workers pay and benefits and had Mitt Robme say that his first step in balancing the federal budget was to go after the federal work force to the tune of $500 billion. That's a fact. They enjoy seeing federal workers killed so they can use it for political purposes but hate living feds.

[DharmaBeachBum]

Lesserof2evils,
If you are going to be critical of a comment, please have some intelligence. The term is "crocodile" tears, not "alligator" tears. For the record, my paternal grandfater was a chief of police prior to being killed in the position of public safety director. I sincerely feel for this agent and his family. He was protecting us. He was serving us.
My condolences to his family. He was a brave and good man.

[rscherf1]

If you take a look at the number of police used at peaceful protest such as OWS these days, why aren't there that many protecting the US borders? RIP agent Ivie.

[johnlockesghost]

We should bring our troops home from the middle east, declare war on Mexico and incarcerate all illegal aliens as POWs.

[aintfakin]

all your right wing friends who hire these illegals to save money and deny real Americans jobs wouldnt approve

[johnlockesghost]

AINTFAKIN: As to those that hire illegals, they should have their assets impounded until a determination as to the profit made via their hiring of illegals and then have their assets restored minus the profits aforementioned, and a fine.

Yes, I am conservative, but not when it impairs the well being of our country and its citizens.

[marcie10000]

My heart just breaks for Mr. Ivie's family. God Bless Mr. Ivie and his beloved ones. How disgusting the Fox News watchers come out and blame the shooting on the current administration. In my lifetime, Cesar Chavez was the most poignant voice in discouraging companies from hiring illegal aliens. Now it's become a highway for drugs and cheap corporate chicken-meatcutting labor which ignorant Americans choose to participate in. And this illegal migration started decades ago. Reagan gave them amnesty - but we also got a bunch of drug cartel members in the deal.

[MonkeyTree1]

The whole Obama Admin is one big lie to the American Citizens. The Embassy Cover Up by Obama and Hillary is a replay of Fast and Furious with Eric Holder. Impeachment proceedings should be started. Nixon was run out of office and wasn't complicit in the murder of American Citizens.

VOTE FOR ROMNEY FOR HOPE AND CHANGE

[lifeduringwartime]

Yes we demand answers gol'dang it! Why was the President not there guarding the border himself? Us Gop-ers demand answers! R&R 2012!

[tb91006]

Smart arse you are the type of person that gets punked and runs to mommy crying to help you. Maybe you should ask Obama why he has increased world aid 80% and cut border You are a disgrace to the human populationpatrol by 78% punk.

[MonkeyTree1]

OBAMA AND HOLDER MURDERING - CAUGHT AGAIN - more and more murders

Here are more.

For the first time, Mexican victims of crimes tied to the botched Operation Fast and Furious are being identified, including teenagers killed in a 2010 massacre.

A new report finds dozens of weapons recovered in Mexico have been connected with the ill-fated and ill-conceived anti-gunrunning program. While some Mexican authorities estimate 300 of their citizens have
been injured or killed by Fast and Furious guns, little has been known about those weapons south of the U.S. border until now.

OBAMA AND HOLDER NEED TO BE BROUGHT TO JUSTICE.

Obama is too stupid to be president. Time for him to go to jail.

VOTE FOR ROMNEY