Cause Of Border Patrol Agent’s Death Is Still Unknown

Some say that the agents, one of whom died, and one of whom was injured, may have been attacked or that they may have fallen.

By Rhonda FanningNovember 21, 2017 1:48 pm,

Lots of unanswered questions surround the death of one U.S. Border Patrol agent and the critical injuries sustained by his partner on duty over the weekend.

Bob Moore, a former editor of the El Paso Times, reported the story for the Washington Post. Moore says the circumstances of the death remain unknown.

“The basic answer, and this is very dissatisfying for a lot of people, is we just don’t know,” he says. “We know that two agents were on duty. One of them wound up with fatal head injuries and one of them wound up with very serious head injuries and other injuries and is now recovering at University Medical Center in El Paso. What we don’t know is what caused those injuries.”

Moore says the surviving officer has not been able to provide information to investigators.

“According to the Border Patrol union, they were responding to a fairly common thing in the area, which was some sign – either a sensor or something on a trail that one of the agents picked up that might have indicated some movement in an area and were responding to that,” he says.

He says the incident happened late Saturday night.

“Saturday was a new moon night, so it was incredibly dark out there,” Moore says. “You’re talking about a very open stretch of far west Texas where there aren’t a lot of people, but it was right next to Interstate 10 so there was definitely traffic going by at the time.”

Moore says it’s possible that the agents were attacked or that they fell. In response to the agent’s death, Governor Greg Abbott has called for more resources at the border.

Moore says he spoke with Culberson County Sheriff Oscar Carrillo, who witnessed the scene and said the injuries were consistent with a fall.

“That’s not a great political narrative for some folks, and I think you saw a rush to judgment that was driven in part by Breitbart News and then some of the political officials who follow them,” he says.

 

Written by Jen Rice.