FBI: Border agent’s death a ‘potential assault ‘
DALLAS — An FBI official said Tuesday that the bureau is investigating the death of a border patrol agent and severe injuries to another as “potential assault,” but he wouldn’t rule out that they could have been hurt in some other way.
Special Agent in Charge Emmerson Buie Jr. said during a news conference in El Paso that investigators are still trying to “gather the facts,” but they are currently treating it as an assault on a federal officer.
The couched language comes more than two days after U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agent Rogelio Martinez succumbed to traumatic head injuries and broken bones suffered while on duty, and after several politicians portrayed his death as the result of an attack.
Martinez died Sunday and his partner, whose name has not been released, was seriously injured. They were found late Saturday in a culvert near Van Horn, about 30 miles (50 kilometres) from the border with Mexico and 110 miles (175 kilometres) southeast of El Paso.