An illegal immigrant from Mexico was shot and killed by a U.S. Border Patrol agent on Monday after the immigrant pelted him with rocks, the Border Patrol said.
The agent, whom the Border Patrol would not name, came across the immigrant, a 28-year-old man, about 8:30 a.m., east of the city of Douglas, Ariz., near an area called D Hill, said Omar Candelaria, a spokesman for the U.S. Border Patrol’s Tucson sector.
The man had broken off from a small group of individuals and initially hid under a tree while throwing rocks at the agent and his patrol dog, said Carol Capas, a spokeswoman for the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office.
He then fled the area on foot, all the while throwing rocks at several agents, who pursued him, Capas said. At one point one of the agents fired two shots.
The immigrant died while being flown by helicopter to a local hospital.
Agents are authorized to use deadly force when there is a threat of serious bodily injury to themselves or others, Candelaria said.
The agent was placed on administrative leave for three days, in compliance with agency policy. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is also investigating.
This is the second shooting involving a Border Patrol agent in Arizona in the past 10 days. On Dec. 27 an unknown assailant shot an agent in the ankle south of Tucson, near the town of Rio Rico.