Border Patrol agent shot to death in Arizona

NACO, 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.

Agent Nicholas Ivie, 30, and a colleague were on patrol in the desert near Naco, about 100 miles from Tucson, when gunfire broke out shortly before 2 a.m., the Border Patrol said. The second agent was shot in the ankle and buttocks, but was reportedly in stable condition. Authorities have not identified the agent who was wounded, nor did they say whether any weapons were seized at the shooting site.

At a news conference in Naco, an FBI official said the agency still was processing the crime scene, and that it might take several days to complete. The FBI and the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office, which is also investigating, declined to say whether investigators have recovered guns or bullet casings.

No arrests have been made, but authorities suspect that more than one person fired at the agents.

“It’s been a long day for us, but it’s been longer for no one more than a wife whose husband is not coming home. It’s been longer for two children whose father is not coming home, and that is what is going to strengthen our resolve” to find those responsible and enforce the law, said Jeffrey Self, commander of Customs and Border Protection’s Arizona joint field command.

Agent Ivie lived in Sierra Vista with his wife and their two young daughters.

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” gunsmuggling operation, which allowed people suspected of illegally buying guns for others to walk away from gun shops with weapons, rather than be arrested. 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.

The Border Patrol said Agent 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.

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 was, 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.