Authorities were investigating Tuesday’s fatal shooting by a U.S. Border Patrol agent that also left one person dead and another injured on a highway in Vermont, near Canada.
Officer David Maland was killed Monday afternoon following a traffic stop, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said in a statement. A German national in the country on what the FBI called a valid visa was killed. An injured suspect was taken into custody and is being treated at a local hospital.
The shooting temporarily forced the closure of part of Interstate 91, about 20 miles from Canada, in Coventry, part of the small community of 27,000 in Orleans County, northeastern Vermont, which straddles the international border.
David Maland, who the FBI confirmed was a U.S. Air Force veteran, was killed near U.S. Customs and Border Protection Station Newport, part from the Swanton sector to which he was assigned. The area encompasses Vermont, parts of New York and New Hampshire, and includes 475 kilometers of international border with Canada.
The Derby Line-Rock Island border crossing is located approximately 12 miles (19.3 kilometers) by motorway north of Coventry. This is a major link with Quebec.
“The thoughts and prayers of U.S. Customs and Border Protection are with Agent Maland’s family during this difficult time,” the agency said in a statement. The death is a tragedy, said Governor Phil Scott and Senator Russ Ingalls, a Republican who represents the region.
Vincent Illuzzi, state’s attorney for neighboring Essex County, drove past what appeared to be a traffic stop by U.S. Border Patrol agents on I-91 after exiting Newport Monday afternoon, he said, shortly before authorities reported the shots had been fired.
“I was going down the road, there wasn’t a lot of traffic, and I saw them on the right,” he told The Associated Press by telephone Tuesday.
The officer was driving an unmarked white truck with a cab and red and blue flashing lights, he said. The stopped vehicle appeared to be a small blue car. The officer was speaking with someone who was standing in front of his truck, which he said was behind the car.
-“Nothing unusual at that time,” Mr. Illuzzi said, but when he returned to the highway later that night, it appeared the same two vehicles were still parked and other law enforcement vehicles had arrived.
Mr. Illuzzi said the U.S. Border Patrol works closely with state and local police in his county. “We have limited law enforcement and they are often the primary responders in emergencies.”
Not the first agent killed
David Maland was the first Border Patrol agent to be killed in the line of duty since Javier Vega Jr. was shot near Santa Monica, Texas, in 2014, according to documents provided by Customs and Enforcement. protection of the borders of the United States. Mr. Vega was initially considered off-duty at the time of his death, but in 2016 it was determined that he was in the line of duty, according to the agency.
In 2010, the murder of Brian Terry exposed the botched federal gun operation known as “Fast and Furious.” Border Patrol Agent Nicholas J. Ivie, of the Brian A. Terry Border Patrol Station, was fatally injured in the line of duty in a remote area near Bisbee, Arizona, in 2012. The Border Patrol agent Isaac Morales was fatally stabbed while off-duty in 2017 in Texas.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it would provide an update later this week. Vermont State Police and the Orleans County District Attorney’s Office declined to comment Tuesday.
Vermont Senators Bernie Sanders, Peter Welch and Becca Balint sent their condolences to the agent’s family in a joint statement and said Border Patrol agents “deserve our full support in terms of staffing, pay and working conditions.
