Border Patrol Agents Shoot, Kill Man Who Sped Away from Checkpoint
Border Patrol agents shot and killed a man last Thursday, Jan. 22, after he failed to stop at the Sierra Blanca Border Patrol checkpoint and then led agents on a high-speed chase on Interstate 10. The FBI, as well as internal-affairs divisions of the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection, are said to be investigating the incident.
The Border Patrol provided only limited information on the fatal shooting, and as of press-time Tuesday (Jan. 27), neither the man’s identity nor his place of residence had been disclosed. No Border Patrol agents or peace officers were injured in the incident.
According to a statement from the Border Patrol, the man approached the inspection lane at the Sierra Blanca checkpoint at about 4:45 p.m. Jan. 22. The man “failed to stop for inspection” and then “fled the checkpoint at a high rate of speed,” the Border Patrol said.
Agents followed the vehicle, and 30 miles east of the checkpoint, the vehicle stopped. Four Border Patrol agents then approached the vehicle. The Border Patrol said that, “according to initial reports,… an agent yelled ‘gun!’ and two agents fired their service-issued weapons, striking the individual.”
According to the Border Patrol statement, “a pistol-shaped pellet gun was recovered from the individual’s vehicle.” Hudspeth and Culberson sheriff’s deputies, as well as Northern Hudspeth County EMS responders, ultimately arrived at the scene, but the man had apparently been killed almost instantly in the gunfire. Several hours after the shooting, Justice of the Peace Julie Sanchez declared the man deceased.
The agents’ handling of the incident raises numerous questions. Under Border Patrol protocol, agents do not pursue motorists who fail to stop at checkpoints – rather, they contact state highway patrol or local sheriff’s departments to conduct that pursuit. A CBP spokesperson said the agents involved in last week’s shooting had in fact not pursued the motorist, but had only “followed” him.
Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West provided a fuller account of the fatal incident. His department began to gather information in the immediate aftermath of the shooting – until FBI agents arrived and asserted control over the investigation, West said.
West said the agents clearly “chased down” the motorist – and that it was ridiculous to suggest they had not engaged in a pursuit. He said his department and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers were only contacted when the agents were “15 miles down the road.” He said DPS troopers coming from Van Horn had laid out spike strips to stop the vehicle, but that the motorist “wrecked out” near the Allamore overpass in Hudspeth County, not far from the Culberson County line. Conditions that afternoon were icy and snowy, and those conditions may have contributed to the wreck, though local reports suggested Border Patrol agents might have forced the vehicle off the road.
West said it appeared that the motorist, after he wrecked, had pointed the pellet-gun pistol at the agents as they approached – and that the agents “were very much justified in what they did.” He said his concern was about the agents’ pursuit of the vehicle, and the delayed response in contacting local law enforcement.
“As far as the shooting is concerned, the boys did an awesome job,” West said. “As far as their actions before that – we could have stopped this sooner and, we’ll never know for sure, but it could have turned out different.”
The Border Patrol did not indicate whether the man had narcotics or other contraband in his vehicle. West said there was a small amount of marijuana in the vehicle – “like it was for personal use.” West said that, before the FBI took over the investigation, his department had determined that the man was out on parole from Albuquerque, N.M. and that he had a previous felony conviction.
West said the man was shot twice in the chest and once in the head and was likely “killed instantly.”
West said the man appeared to have been in his mid-20s. Though he was not sure of the man’s race or ethnicity, West said he “thought he was black.”
A CBP spokesperson said FBI agents were interviewing “multiple people” connected with the incident. The spokesperson said that the timelines for FBI investigation vary, and that it was impossible to predict when the agency’s investigation might be complete, or how much detail the FBI might disclose. Multiple calls to the FBI’s El Paso office seeking information on the man’s identity and on the investigation went unreturned as of press-time Tuesday.