Border Patrol Agent Killing: Friendly Fire?

[longnecker]

Authorities are looking closely at the possibility that a friendly fire accidental shooting is at the heart of the incident that killed Border Patrol Agent Nicholas Ivie and wounded a second agent, sources familiar with the investigation told ABC News.
A third agent was unharmed in the incident.
The FBI Phoenix field division would only say in a statement that, "Due to the sensitive and ongoing nature of this investigation, the FBI is unable to provide any further details at this time."
The scenario that is being examined is whether the fatal shooting happened in the "fog of war" following some type of encounter.
Additional forensics are being done on ballistics and additional interviews are being conducted to determine if the matter can be resolved in the coming days.
http://news.yahoo.com/border-patrol-...opstories.html

[max1]

This sucks, he was shot with one of our own guns? What?

Wait a minute this is a direct result of the current losers policies in the White house, and the racist erich0lder.

[Beau Stockard]

This sucks, he was shot with one of our own guns? What?

Wait a minute this is a direct result of the current losers policies in the White house, and the racist erich0lder.

You have to have your head pretty far up Karl Rove's A-hole to pull that one out, buddy. I recall George W Bush telling us that 'friendly fire incidents' are some of the accidental risks of war our men under arms have to face as part of the profession. At least, that was his take on the Pat Tillman case . President Bush lauded Tillman as

an inspiration on and off the football field as with all who made the ultimate sacrifice in the war on terror

It was six weeks later that the Army finally admitted to the family that Tillman had been killed by his own army attachment.

[longnecker]

PHOENIX (AP) — The head of the U.S. Border Patrol agents' union says the agent killed last week in a shooting in southern Arizona apparently opened fire on two colleagues thinking they were armed smugglers and was killed when they returned fire.

The two sets of agents approached an area where a sensor had been activated early Tuesday from different directions and encountered each other in an area of heavy brush, National Border Patrol Council president George McCubbin said.
Agent Nicholas Ivie apparently opened fire first and wounded one of the other agents but was killed in the return fire.
"I don't know what it was he saw or heard that triggered this whole event," McCubbin said. "Unfortunately it resulted in his death and another agent injured."
Acting Cochise County Sheriff Rod Rothrock confirmed the scenario but would not say if Ivie was the first to shoot, saying that was up to the federal agencies involved.
The new details add to a FBI statement Friday that the shooting appeared to be a friendly fire incident that involved no one but the agents.
Sensors are set up in different areas along the U.S.-Mexico border to detect smugglers or illegal immigrants, with Border Patrol agents responding when they're set off. The shooting occurred in a rugged hilly area about five miles north of the border near Bisbee, Ariz., an area known for illegal trafficking.
McCubbin and Rothrock both said the two sets of agents knew the others were heading to the area on foot but apparently didn't know they were so close. McCubbin said he'd been briefed by the agency, while Rothrock's agency has been involved with the investigation.
"It was dark, very, very rugged terrain, and what they could see of each other was further obscured by the fact that there was brush and cacti and stuff like that between them," Rothrock said. "I have no doubt that these agents were in as heightened a state of alert as you can get due to the proximity to the border and the history of trafficking in that area."
http://www.mediacomtoday.com/news/re...org%3E&ps=1018

[Chase]

sounds like an accident between people on the same team and i can see how it would happen.

i don't know how politics has anything to do with it. yes i have heard and read about the Eric Holder fiasco but I don't think this has anything to do with that.

[max1]

It does if for no other reason then since Eric Holder and 0bamma and fast and furious, and I know this is a stretch but if fast and furious had never happened perhaps these folks would have been in a less heightened state of alert and less ready to shoot at the first thing they see.


"Ivie's death marked the first fatal shooting of an agent since a deadly 2010 firefight with Mexican gunmen that killed U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in December 2010 and spawned congressional probes of a botched government gun-smuggling investigation."

[Beau Stockard]

max,

It does if for no other reason then since Eric Holder and 0bamma and fast and furious, and I know this is a stretch but if fast and furious had never happened

Your assumption that gun running operations started in the Obama Administration are misleading at best --those type operations have been tried for years and been common strategy for the ATF going back to the Reagan Administration 's declaring a 'war on drugs' . Maybe, it is time for Congress to re-examine the war on drugs and its mixed results and costs rather than point accusations at each of the political parties.

[max1]

No, you are right these programs have went on for years some work some dont but none other then F&F have lost wepons that have killed agents, and then the head guy Eric Holder LIED about it...thats not opinion thats a fact

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_16...-10391695.html

and heres an OPINION "I think the Obama administration will lie to it its needs"

[Beau Stockard]

max,

none other then F&F have lost wepons that have killed agents,

So, why didn't the Bush Administration Justice Department do something about it , stop the operation before an agent Brian Terry was killed ? I believe because the Bush Justice Department was too busy with their own discipline and morale problems caused by the Bush firing of the Justice Department lawyers who refused to pursue vigorously enough the many frivolous cases against liberal "targets " like the Colm Connolly cases against Tom Gordon and Sherry Freebery.

[max1]

Stop!

I will not allow your bullshit to have me suspended. YOU WILL NOT drag me down to you level where you troll.

You know damn right good and well that this agent died as a part of an ongoing operation under the OBAMA Justice department. You have said it before in these posts so the ONLY thing I can assume is that your saying this to start shit, well you picked the wrong person to start shit with cause I refuse to allow it. This operation is Obamas period it has nothing to do with Bush, stop going off topic and stick with what the thread is about.

Why dont you start debating with facts and stop trying to shake up this little community, we have our issues and some of us downright dont like each other and at times there is a lot of crap that can fly around here but at the end of the day most of us respect each other and those who dont have the common courtusy to at least put it into a PM.

You came here and started off very well you debated in a half way decent way but as soon as you perceive your losing you resort to just tossing a bunch of crap to deflect from your loss. This has resulted in chaos on our little village, why don't you either join us in our debate or do some of us a favor and leave.

I for one hope you decide to stay, but I would like to see the Beau that debates and not just sling crap around.

[longnecker]

and heres an OPINION "I think the Obama administration will lie to it its needs"

Max You are not saying that you think one of our politicians would lie to us are you??? Damn now I won't sleep TONIGHT.

You remember I work midnight to 8 right?

[max1]

Eh, some are worse then others I guess.

[Beau Stockard]

max,

This operation is Obamas period it has nothing to do with Bush, ...Why dont you start debating with facts

Do you want to continue to deny that it was AG Eric Holder who stopped Fast&Furious and demoted the officers(who were working at the ATF longer than the 2 years that the Obama Administration was in office) responsible for its planning and operation? Do you really want the timeline for Fast&Furious that clearly shows that it was planned and started under Bush? Here it is: Inspector General’s ‘Fast And Furious' Report Clears Attorney ...



thinkprogress.org/.../19/877451/inspector-generals-fast-and-furious...
Sep 19, 2012 · We found no evidence that Department or ATF staff informed the Attorney General about Operation Wide Receiver or Operation Fast and Furious …

An investigation by an independent arm of the Department of Justice concluded on Wednesday that Attorney General Eric Holder had no knowledge about a series of botched gun stings, which began in 2006 under George W. Bush — until the operation’s flaws became public in January 2011.
The 471-page Inspector General’s report on “Operation Fast and Furious” discredits sharp allegations by Republicans in Congress who launched a witch hunt against Holder, subjecting him to hours of interrogation to float conspiracy theories, alleging repeatedly that the Obama administration was using the high-profile gun violence from the operation to garner support for gun regulation, and finding Holder in contempt of Congress.
The report debunks suggestions that Holder attempted to mislead Congress or cover up information, and confirms Holder’s own account of the operation: that it employed “flawed strategy and tactics,” but that Holder did not know about or authorize those tactics. When Holder learned that the operation out of Phoenix had been selling guns to suspected gun smugglers in an attempt to snag traffickers, he initiated changes to Department policy and personnel, and asked for an investigation by the Office of the Inspector General, which concluded:

We determined that Attorney General Holder did not learn about Operation Fast and Furious until late January or early February 2011 and was not aware of allegations of “gun walking” in the investigation until February. We found no evidence that Department or ATF staff informed the Attorney General about Operation Wide Receiver or Operation Fast and Furious prior to 2011.

www.thinkprogress.org

[EpicWin]