Feds Keep Details Sketchy In BP Agent Murder Case
Dec 21, 2010 8 Comments ›› Pat Dollard
The family of Brian A. Terry is preparing to say its last goodbyes to the fallen Border Patrol agent with a memorial service Wednesday in Michigan. Meanwhile in Arizona, federal officials remain tight-lipped about the details of his death.
The FBI, the lead investigative agency in the case, has released no additional information since its initial statement that Terry, a member of an elite SWAT-type team, was shot during an armed encounter late on Dec. 14 in the Rio Rico area. The Border Patrol has added to that account only to say that the encounter was with a group of five men, and that four were detained (one was wounded) while another remains at large.
However, Terry’s stepmother told the Green Valley News that Terry was shot in the back, and most likely with an AK-47.
Reached by phone at her home in Michigan, Carol Terry said the Border Patrol told the family that at about 11 p.m. Tuesday, the agents saw a group of five “pirates” approaching them in Peck Canyon. At first, it appeared the men weren’t armed, but at least two carried AK-47s, she said.
In the ensuing gunfight, Terry was shot in the back, the bullet piercing his protective vest and tearing through his pelvis. Although critically wounded, he was able to call for help, telling fellow agents that he had been shot. Then he lost consciousness.
A team with an EMT arrived almost immediately, and a helicopter lifted Terry out of the area within minutes. But the damage was too great and he died in the helicopter en route to a hospital.
Asked Monday if he could confirm the details of Carol Terry’s account, Mario Escalante, a spokesman with the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector referred all questions to the FBI. But FBI spokesman Manuel Johnson declined to confirm the account, or discuss other details in the case, such as the identities of the suspects in custody, their nationalities, whether they’ve been charged, and the status of the manhunt for the fifth suspect.
“The investigation remains ongoing and we are not releasing any information at this time,” Johnson told the Nogales International in an e-mail response.
During a meeting Friday with the editorial board of The Arizona Republic, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano confirmed one fact of the case that had been widely known already: Terry’s elite BORTAC team was tracking a group of border bandits when the shooting began.
“They were seeking to apprehend what’s called a ‘rip crew,’ which is a name given to a crew that is organized to seek to rip off people who are drug mules or traversing the border illegally,” Napolitano told the newspaper’s editorial board. “That’s why they were in that area.”
In the absence of more detailed information from the authorities, some media outlets have filled the gaps with unconfirmed details and rumors. One rumor, that Terry’s team had been armed only with “bean-bag” rounds or rubber bullets, gained enough traction that the Border Patrol agent’s Local 2544 union felt compelled to refute it on its website.
Service planned
Terry was supposed to be at home in Michigan with his family this weekend. He planned to fly out Friday. Instead, his family will hold a memorial service on Wednesday.
“We just can’t believe it,” Carol Terry said. “It simply doesn’t seem real to us, and we’re devastated.”
Terry’s body was flown back to Michigan on Saturday. On the way to the airport early Saturday morning, four motorcyclists serving as escorts crashed, injuring one rider.
Tucson police spokesman Sgt. Matt Ronstadt told KGUN-TV that the members of the Arizona Rangers collided after some sort of traffic slowdown. The injured rider was taken to a hospital for evaluation of what appeared to be minor injuries.
