E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSInvestigators have told NBC News that they cannot rule out the possibility that Border Patrol agent Nicolas Ivie, who was shot to death Tuesday morning, may have been a casualty of "friendly fire." NBC's Mark Potter reports.
Federal investigators have told NBC News they are examining whether the shootings of Border Patrol agents early Tuesday morning were the result of friendly fire – officers accidentally shooting each other.
Initial reports from U.S. and local officials blamed the shootings on armed criminals. Agent Nicholas Ivie, 30, was killed and another agent was wounded in the incident.
Mexican police said Thursday that they arrested two suspects in a Mexican military operation in the city of Agua Prieta, in Mexico’s northern Sonora state, a few miles from where Ivie was shot, Reuters reported.
Related: Mexican troops arrest two in killing of US border agent
Ivie was responding to desert sensors that track movements in a remote area five miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border, near Naco, Ariz., authorities have said. He was with two other agents, one of whom was wounded and released from the hospital after undergoing surgery. The third agent, a woman, was unharmed.
Ivie was a father of two who grew up in Utah and was active in the Mormon Church. He had been an agent for four years.
It was the first fatal shooting of an on-duty Border Patrol agent since December 2010, when Brian Terry was killed in a shootout with bandits near the border. Terry's shooting was later linked to the government's "Fast and Furious" gun-smuggling operation, which allowed people suspected of illegally buying guns for others to walk away from gun shops with weapons, an attempt to track the weapons.
Two Border Patrol agents were killed last year in an accident during a car chase with smugglers near Phoenix.
Regarding the more recent case, investigators caution that that have reached no conclusions and still have lots of work to do. But they said they cannot rule out that it was a friendly fire incident.
More content from NBCNews.com:
- Almost-Eagle Scout denied award because he is gay
- Somalis 'should leave culture at door' remark by Maine mayor stirs outrage
- 'Business as usual': Congress asks VA to explain chronic late payments to student vets
- 7 bears killed in Montana after becoming dependant on humans for food
- Philadelphia student wearing Romney shirt told to 'get out of the class'
Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook
Leave a Comment:
D'oh!
Surely these guys and gals get basic military training to avoid this sort of thing?
Ummm - two words - Pat Tillman.
Perfect.....
The very sight of Jan Brewer can cause competent men to lose their minds.
Hmmmm No mention of the BP agents who were killed (again) with Fast N Furious guns. The death toll is rising Thank-You Eric Holder.
Leave it to PMSDNC to have a bogus article with no facts, all supposition and covering for Obama's failure to secure our borders. What's worse is all the libtards here that are buying it. No wonder people are leaving the DNC with ignorant trolls like you libtards representing the party.
love
"It was the first fatal shooting of an on-duty Border Patrol agent since December 2010, when Brian Terry was killed in a shootout with bandits near the border. Terry's shooting was later linked to the government's "Fast and Furious" gun-smuggling operation,"
You haven't learned how to read yet?
The weapons could have come from operation wide receiver. Thank you alberto gonzales. Just get someone to read it for you.
kc
Wasn't it the gop who recently said they didn't need facts?
YUUUUP !! KC, as hester would say
Its to bad FOX viewers don't read other news about Fast & Furious. The State of Arizona would not allow US Agents to arrest the gun buyers who bought the guns before they gave them to the Mexican Cartel. In Arizona any US citizen can buy as many guns at one time as they want. Agents tried to get a warrant to arrest a homeless man leaving a gun shop. He bought 30 assault riffles for cash, said they for his personal use. He walked out of the store, turned them over to persons unknown and kept some cash for himself. The Jan Brewer LAW kept agents from doing anything about it. Feel safer now that Arizona laws allow the cartel to get as many guns as the want from the US.
The government was telling the gun owners to sell the guns to the people that bought the guns in Fast and Furious in Arizona.
The State of Arizona - the best arms dealers in the Country. We have more Gun Shows here than Planters has peanuts.
Jeffrey,
The gun dealers reported it to the ATF and they tried to arrest the strawbuyer but the AG wasn't going to press charges or issue an arrest warrant. So let me ask you one question......are you in favor of gun control laws? If yes then you can bitch about F&F......but if you against gun control laws why are you worried about the F&F guns? Afterall guns don't kill people......right?
@joethelib - You actually believe this tripe? You're going to post that a state usurped a Federal Agency and blocked them from executing their duties. Where did you get this kind of info? Show a credible source or I'm calling BS.
Hmmm... "friendly fire" - the same fate we lost a lot of servicemen to.....
Surrounded at the ALAMO, Davy Crockett tells Jim Bowie:
"Maybe they're FRIENDLY MEXICANS."
IRONICALLY....US Border Patrol uniforms are manufactured in...........MEXICO!
Ain't no such thing as "friendly fire"!
"Friendly fire isn't" is taken directly from The Dummy's Guide to Combat, along with such other observations as:
Never draw fire. It irritates everyone around you.
When in doubt, empty the magazine.
If your attack is going really well, it's an ambush.
Try to look unimportant. The bad guys may be low on ammo.
The easy way is always mined.
If you are short of everything except hostiles, you are in the combat zone.
Incoming fire has the right of way.
If the enemy is in range, so are you.
Radios will fail as soon as you need fire support.
Anything you do can get you shot --- including doing nothing.
Tracers work both ways.
Incoming friendly fire is always more accurate than incoming enemy fire.
Mines are equal opportunity weapons.
Teamwork is essential. It gives them other people to shoot at.
Never share a fighting position with someone braver than you are.
Never forget that your weapon was made by the lowest bidder.
... and if you're in a fair fight , you're an idiot.
Thanks Bill I haven't seen that list in a long time.
Me, either, Bill....thanks for the memories... :)
LA RAZA: "We will make the white race extinct one BP agent at a time!"
You mean the agency is no better trained than the Keystone Cops?
Where the BP armed with beanbag guns this time?
This probably eminated from the DOJ to stall the investigation of Holder and his goons. I believe the BP is well trained to do their job and this is just a smoke screen.
Or was the Holder thing a smokescreen for someone else????? All they wanted to do was get into paperwork to see who might really be implicated. When they saw the Fed didn't have much info on the real culprits, they backed off.
Chuck is under the illusion and impression that GOP goons are better than DEM goons. LOL.
The guy killed was a morman hmmmm
I am really surprised that his Mormon " Magic underwear" did not protect him. I thought that was one of the things it was suppose to do?
j burk
That's a hell of a thing to say about a dead man. He was married with two kids & this is waht you come up with about their dead father? You know $hit like this has a way of coming around to bite you in the ass.
j burk
Shame on you for saying such a horrible thing. Regardless whether you agree with his religion or not, he was a husband, a father, a son, a brother who was protecting our country. My husband was an agent and lost a very close friend who was an agent, you have no idea the horrible sadness this family will go through. Your empathy is overwhelming.
I see Mormon has joined "redneck" and "cracker" as PC protected hate speech.
In a word-NO! Could an unfriendly government make enemies out of it's citizens while defending, aiding, and harboring non-citizen illegal immigrants. In a word-YES. AND IS!
nope a Mexican painted his face white with shoe polish and bought the uniform from a goodwill, then he shot the border patrol agent, cleaned the gun and went back to landscaping.... the real story!
Pat Tillman comes to mind...they tried to make him look like a hero to get kids to sign up and fuel the fire for war.
But it was "Friendly fire" that caused his death. Would making this borderpatrol another martyr help some political party? Fast and Furious needed a cover up but I'm not so sure it was because of Holder. Who else might be into selling Guns to Mexico? Would it gain support for More Border patrol? I believe this needs alot more investigation of people outside the Government. NRA maybe and Arizona Sheriff's Dept. Gun shops selling like crazy after the attempted assasination on Gifford. Even Border Patrol. I keep an open mind but I want facts and not just acusations.
Friendly fire isn't.
Coverup story since the DOJ doesn't need any more border bad press since the country is waking up to the giant coverup of Fast and Furious.
Just a comment in an earlier news report it mentioned they found tracks heading south from the where the shooting took place, doesn't sound like friendly fire, but this article doesn't mention a word about any tracks, so what are the facts?
Don't be too sure. Fast and Furious came to our attention just after someone tried to kill Gabby Gifford. I remember the humongous surge in gun sales in Arizona. I remember something about a problem with listing consumers and how many guns they bought at one time. I knew there would be big trouble. The Fast and Furious broke and people in the Food and drug Plus the Sheriff's staff were implicated. I remember thinking Fast & Furious yes before the Government stops the sales. I don't know what this was all about but I wouldn't rule out anyone. Everyones a crook these days. Everyone's for Profit and to heck with People.
Too bad the GOP Bush appointed federal attorneys in Phoenix didn't act on the names of those buying the Draco pistols in multiples well before the shootiing of Brian Terry citing that AZ law permits numerous repeat sales of the same weapons. The fed attorneys were correct, but the suspicious MULTIPLE sales were turned by law a LICENSED GUN DEALER. Like most GOPers Delores, you don't know the case.
DOU, Obama appointed Denis Burke.
On July 10, 2009, Dennis Burke was nominated by President Barack Obama to serve as the United States Attorney for the District of Arizona. He was confirmed by unanimous consent by the U.S. Senate on September 15, 2009. Burke was most recently a Senior Advisor to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. He served as Chief of Staff to Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano from 2003 to 2008. Burke was a Senior Policy Analyst for the White House Domestic Policy Council during the Clinton Administration. Senator Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ) credited Burke and Rahm Emmanuel with fostering and getting the 1994 Assault Weapon Ban passed. On August 30, 2011, Burke resigned.
http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/0830burke-resignation-letter.pdf
DOU44 you are a wing nut working for bho or msnbc at best. Where are your words on Clintons knowledge of 911 and the shielving of said fact?
You liberals are a diseased breed. Your comments have no substance let alone fact. You definately have had sex with BHO
http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/specialty-forums/survival-emergency-preparedness/current-events/448761-border-patrol-instructed-run-away.html
johnny
Right under your aluminum hat.
Where are your words on operation wide receiver?
flnobody
johnny
Your Mom??
I feel like Romney owning Mr. President last night, boo ya !!
So now we are rewriting history again? Clinton knew about 9/11? Funny... the Bush administration made a big public deal of ignoring and throwing out everything that Clinton left behind... and ignored warning after warning from their own intelligence officers... and now you have Clinton knowing about 9/11? That is the biggest bunch of crap yet. Where do you get this BS? Unbelieveable.
Science: Clinton was way too busy in the Oval Office doing other things to be concerned about the 3+years the terrorists were planning this attack. Clinton was not on the job and did NOT have enough information because he cut CIA because he felt the Cold War was over. Passing information on to Bush, give me a break.
Ok, now I understand! Bad things happen only when Democrats hold office.
Thanks for clearing that up for me.
Funny how POTUS Press Corp(NBC) did not bother to mention the Federal Investigators name??? First NBC tries to say Mexico has two suspects. Both Mexico and the US has denied this. Now they print this? Real Investigators would never make those assumptions Public without proof. If true it would of been called an accidental shooting. "Friendly fire"? I've never heard that term used for domestic non-military Agents and Officers. It has always been called, 'accidental shooting". NBC is looking to get sued again.
Maybe, the shooters were more of Holder's mexican cartel employees and that would make it friendly fire.
Maybe the shooter was pissed that a co-worker was banging his wife (and that would make it friendly fire, too).
Seems easy to find out using ballistics evidence.
Sure it would...the slugs in the dead guy can tell us if they were fired by a mexican drug runner or an American border agent...
Greg, I hope you're not trying to be ironic. You're not pulling it off.
what i read here is an attempt to cover up the shootings of these agents by saying friendly fire caused their injuries when in fact if we ever get the truth they were shot by fast and furious guns and obama doesn't want the operation brought during the debates. instead they are going to blame the other agent/agents. this is how the perfect one works. it is always some one else is fault.
NBC= NATIONALIZED BROADCASTING COMPANY
Who's holding a cheap Saturday Night Special handgun to your head and "forcing" you to post here, again?
The same person holding it to your head and forcing you to read my post............................
I call BS on this story. There is no evidence suggesting it was friendly fire, but we are going to report it that way.
I know what this means.
A fast and furious weapon was used to kill the border agent.
Actually surprised the Feds aren't blaming it on an anti-Mexican film.
No such thing as organzied terror attacks. They are all
spur of the moment protests against a movie.. and the
protestors just happen to have hand held rocket launchers and
automatic weapons. Now, there's no such thing as dangerous
illegals crossing the border. Just friendly fire. Is this " most
transparent adminstration in history" even capable of telling
the truth?
When is the federal government going to admit that Mexico is just as big of a threat to the United States as Al-queda. We have a trade/travel embargo still in place against Cuba, yet they are not killing Americans or smuggling drugs into America on a daily basis. It won't be long before Al-queda is using Mexico as a base of operations for attacks on the United States.
The Mexican drug cartels are merely fulfilling the huge thirst for drugs currently in the US. Some of this is our fault, folks.
Ah yes, the kid in the candy store phenomena. Wake up dude, I dont care why mexicans are doing what they are doing, they are killing our people and have been for 100 yrs. I think its time for a little payback. The Marines arent that far away in San Clemente. We could be saddled up and over the border before those fat chili beaners even noticed.
Hustle down to the recruiters office and enlist in the Marines if you're so anxious for "payback".
As the mayor of Los Angeles proclaims "We clean your toilets"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34ffyNlGsiY
Horrified,the Al-queda is in mexico training and Napolitano already said a few have come across the border. They are saying this because they are afraid it was some more of holders guns:( We all know ovomit has alot to do with the gun running or he would never have stepped in to cover holders ass:(
Horrified: I agree with you and I also believe the Al-Qaeda is already in the Latin American countries. All these beheadings and cut up body parts have not been the way Mexicans operate. That sounds more like the ME type of killings. The drug cartels are more akin to the majia and don't leave many clues behind. Our borders are NOT safe and need to be sealed NOW.
Nice try MSNBC. I thought you would have said it was Bush's fault? Maybe it was Romney embarassing Obama last night to be the cause. Quit speculating and start reporting the truth.
It was an illegal alien period.
Johnny: Are you so right wing paranoid and close minded that the only conclusion is your mythological one?
Suck my Duck Dou44
Fricking no balls liberal
You can't suck something that doesn't exist. Why doncha go "strap it on" yourself and go yee-haw'ing off down to Mexico yourself if you have the cojones for it?
ah, phil1154 e me bono, a worker of dou44
Usted no puede aspirar a algo que no existe. ¿Por eso doncha ir "strap it on" usted y vaya yee-haw'ing apagado abajo a México usted mismo si tiene los cojones para ella?
Por supuesto lo hago y puedo asegurar a usted, que ahora dueño de te.Mantenga (IP) hablando me encanta cuando los liberales. Puedes contactar conmigo en cualquier momento por teléfono. No trabajo para el Gobierno pero verlos. Me llaman ahora, John Tucker. 1.866.DHS.2.ICE. Apostar a que tener bolas no bien;)
I noticed you copied and pasted "cojones" typical bho boy
thanks odumbo
This is clearly Obama's fault, just like that bad weather we had last week.
If this was not a possibility why would they even bring this up? Bad odor from this one!
The very 1st thing Id do is make sure that there were trusted people in that autopsy room when the slugs were taken out. This is ripe for coverup. The Attny General is already on the ropes for these guns getting to the mexicans. This, I hope will be the straw that breaks the camel's (obama) back. Why didnt Romney use this in his debate, about how Obama is covering up for the A/G.
Getmad: The next debate is on Foreign Policy. Should be interesting to see how Prs.Obama blames everyone else for his failed Foreign Policies especially re. the Embassy massacre.
Well of course it was friendly fire.
It's an election year!!
If this is a FF situation... Why would officers be shooting at anyone, unless fired upon first? Friendly fire cant happen unless someone starts shooting first. ROE should be no shooting under any circumstance, unless fired upon first. Identifying who you are dealing with should be the rule. Not start shooting at the drop of a hat. Sounds like a bunch of cowboys are working down there, if thats whats happening..
They shouldnt be shooting anyone for any other reason than the bad guys are start shooting first. OR they are positively identified as bad guys, and act in a threatening way that warrants deadly force. None of the crimes that happen around the border warrant a death penalty. Trying to "get away" isnt a death penalty offense either. Armed bad guys are a different matter, but make sure they are armed bad guys first.
The US border patrol are instructed when fired upon, do not shoot back but run and hide.
http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/specialty-forums/survival-emergency-preparedness/current-events/448761-border-patrol-instructed-run-away.html