Officials have confirmed that the Border Patrol agent that was shot and killed early this morning is 30-year-old Nicholas J. Ivie.
Ivie was killed after he and two other agents responded to an unusual sensor reading near Highway 80 about 7 miles east of Bisbee, according to Border Patrol officials.
Ivie was patrolling the area with a pair of agents after being alerted that a sensor had been tripped, according to Cochise County Sheriff’s Commander Marc Denney. Denney told the Los Angeles Times that agents were ambushed. The agents radioed that they had come under fire, he said, attacked by three or four people who appear to have fled on foot into the rocky hills.
It was not clear whether the agents returned fire, and Border Patrol spokesmen declined to provide more details about the shooting. By the time deputies responded, the gunmen had disappeared, Denney said. ”Whether they were picked up in another vehicle is unknown,” Denney said, adding that the gunmen had ample time to flee and hide. “They had a bit of a jump on us.” Denney said the motive for the shooting was still “highly unknown.”
In an official news release, Customs and Border Protection officials confirmed the identity of the agent killed as Ivie, who has been with Border Patrol since January 2008. He is a native of Provo, Utah.
“First and foremost, our thoughts and prayers are with Agent Ivie’s family during this terrible time,” said Jeffrey D. Self, commander of the Joint Field Command – Arizona. “This is a tragic loss for Customs and Border Protection. We have an unwavering commitment to pursue and bring the perpetrators of this heinous act to justice.”
Governor Jan Brewer released a statement on the shooting…
“What happens next has become all-too-familiar in Arizona. Flags will be lowered in honor of the slain agent. Elected officials will vow to find those responsible. Arizonans and Americans will grieve, and they should. But this ought not only be a day of tears. There should be anger, too. Righteous anger — at the kind of evil that causes sorrow this deep, and at the federal failure and political stalemate that has left our border unsecured and our Border Patrol in harm’s way. Four fallen agents in less than two years is the result.
“It has been 558 days since the Obama administration declared the security of the U.S.-Mexico border ‘better now than it has ever been.’ I’ll remember that statement today.”
Agent Ivie died a week after his Border Patrol station was renamed the “Brian Terry Station” by an act of Congress. Terry was murdered by an AK-47 provided to his Mexican cartel killer by Eric Holder via his ‘Fast and Furious’ gun-running debacle.
Terry was ordered that night to use only “beanbag” rounds against an enemy using high-powered weapons disastrously provided by Obama and Holder. There is no indication yet as to whether Agent Ivie and his fellow agents were similarly instructed last night.
Nicholas Ivie leaves behind a wife and two young children. Our prayers to his family and our demands that the Feds bring his killers to justice. May he rest in peace.
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