Arizona Daily Star report March 12, 2011:

They had guns in fatal shootout, waited to use them, CBP chief says
Border agents made call on beanbags

Border Patrol agents decided on their own to fire beanbags at a group of armed illegal immigrants in a confrontation late last year near Nogales in which an agent was killed, the agency’s commissioner said Friday.

Alan Bersin, Customs and Border Protection commissioner, said the agents’ initial use of the beanbags was not mandated by agency policy, which allows agents to determine whether to use deadly or non-deadly force based on the threat.

Agent Brian Terry died after being shot in the back in a shootout between agents and suspected border bandits Dec. 14 near Peck Canyon, outside Nogales.

More…

Department of Homeland Security boss Janet Napolitano sent a letter Friday to Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, explaining the  agency’s weapons policy.

Senator Grassley had questioned Napolitano about the policy during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday Macrh 9th.

Napolitano wrote that the agency’s policy authorizes agents to “use deadly force when they have a reasonable belief that a subject poses an immediate danger of death or serious physical injury” to the agent or another another person.

“CBP law enforcement personnel have never been ordered – now or in the past – to use less-lethal devices before using deadly force,” Napolitano wrote. “Our officers and agents are empowered to determine the appropriate level of force in defense of themselves, their fellow officers and agents, or innocent third parties.”

This is not the story that has been leaking out from Border Patrol agents.

Guess we”ll have to wait until the BP agents that were at the scene with Terry are called to testify in the trials of the murderers…if they are ever even caught.

One suspect is being held in custody but has only been charged with illegal entry for a second time. Three others caught that night have already been deported for immigration violations.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 12th, 2011 at 11:28 am and is filed under border issues, border patrol, border patrol tucson sector, drug smuggling, grassley, mexican drug cartels, politics. Tags for this post: brian terry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.