Details released to the media have been minimal so far: a Border Patrol unit that was dispatched to check an alarm triggered by a ground sensor east of Bisbee, Arizona, came under fire shortly after 1:30 a.m. in what appears to have been a hasty ambush.
Three agents were part of the patrol. One agent, Nicholas Ivie, a married father of two, was killed at the scene:
Capas said the agents reported over the radio that they had come under fire as they were following a trail into the area. Earlier reports from authorities stated erroneously that they were on horseback.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Victor Brabble confirmed the name of the deceased agent is Nicholas Ivie.
When deputies arrived, one of the agents had died and another suffered serious but non-life threatening injuries, she said.
No suspects were in custody, and Capas she could provide any details on the shooters including how many there were, or what they were doing in the area.
A second agent was seriously wounded but did not have life-threatening injuries. He was transported out of the area via helicopter and was in stable condition at a local hospital. The agents who were attacked were assigned to Brian Terry Station — an outpost dedicated just weeks ago in honor of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, the first publicly known victim of Operation Fast and Furious.
We do not know if the Border Patrol agents were able to return fire, and if they did, if there was any evidence that the attackers were wounded. It does not yet appear that authorities have the identities of any suspects.
The area of the wilderness where the shooting took place, seven miles east of Bisbee and south of U.S. 80, is an area known as the Mule Mountains. It is just north of the Mexican border. The terrain in the Mule Mountains is typical of the Arizona border areas, where cartels use rugged terrain to mask their movements, and resembles the Peck Canyon area where Brian Terry was killed as his BORTAC team attempted to capture a cartel rip crew. Documentary filmmaker Fleming “Tex” Fuller has been working on a documentary about the Obama administration’s Fast and Furious gunwalking plot, and recently released a trailer that shows the brutal terrain where Agent Terry gave up his life.
News of the attack on the Border Patrol team comes just days after Spanish-language network Univision aired a damning one-hour special report on Operation Fast and Furious. The network revealed that an additional 57 Fast and Furious guns had been recovered at crime scenes, in addition to the 122 guns already noted in congressional investigations.
One of the most shocking and graphic attacks involved a case of mistaken identity, where a cartel warlord thought a group assembling at a local house was a meeting of rival cartel figures. He called in a hit squad of 20 men, who massacred the home’s occupants and nearby neighbors. After the fact it was discovered that there were no cartel members in the home — the hit squad had attacked a party held by local teenagers. Fourteen were killed and an additional 12 were wounded. Three guns discarded at the murder scene were traced back to Operation Fast and Furious. Jose Antonio Acosta Hernandez, the boss of the La Linea hit squads for the Juarez cartel, claims he was merely following orders:
What had happened was Jose Antonio Acosta Hernandez, or “El Diego,” the onetime leader of the Juarez Cartel’s La Linea, sent his team to the birthday party to kill what he thought were members of the rival Sinaloa Cartel.
La Linea is the “enforcement arm” of the Juarez Cartel. According to the El Paso Times, El Diego told Mexican authorities after his capture that La Linea’s mission was, among other things, to “eliminate the members of the Sinaloa cartel in Ciudad Juárez.”
“Regarding the party in Villas de Salvarcar, I was informed that there were some who belonged to the Sinaloa Cartel,” El Diego said in police interrogation videos. “I send the boys, and when they are there, they tell me that they have already located them, and so the order to start working is given.”
“Merely following orders” seemed to be the primary defense of Eric Holder’s Department of Justice, according to DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report whitewashing the Obama administration’s role in in Operation Fast and Furious. Curiously, Horowitz refused to mention any of the federal crimes that must have occurred for gunwalking to have taken place — such as felony violations of the Arms Export Control Act that would have accompanied every single gun, and felony violations of the Kingpin Act. Horowitz also managed to dodge the other suspected administration gunwalking plots within DOJ and other parts of the government that Univision discussed, such as the Tampa ATF’s Operation Castaway.
More from Bob Owens: The Opening Statement I’d Have Romney Make Tonight
Join the conversation as a VIP Member