FBI Shoots Down Media Reports, Says Border Agent’s Death Involves ‘Assault on Federal Agent Investigation’

Border Patrol Agent Rogelio Martinez - USBP Photo
Photo: U.S. Customs and Border Protection

The FBI is offering $25,000 for information on the “incident” that left one Border Patrol agent dead with severe injuries to his head and another agent hospitalized. The FBI held a press conference on November 21, 2017 and said a number of possible scenarios existed, but they were investigating the matter as an assault on a federal agent, despite media claiming FBI thought the incident involved an accident.

Breitbart Texas first reported on the incident and later noted that Border Patrol agents were claiming an attack had occurred at the hands of illegal immigrants and that the deceased agent’s skull was beaten in with a rock or rocks. The National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) went on record with the assertions and shockwaves spread far and wide. Many left-of-center outlets began focusing on the fact that the FBI investigation looked into whether the agents had fallen or suffered an accident; however, many Republican leaders began asserting that the agents were attacked.

After President Donald Trump tweeted that an attack occurred, left-of-center outlets such as the Associated Press (AP) began reporting a source’s claims that the agents likely fell. Breitbart Texas then published images from the scene, showing that such injuries from a fall were unlikely given the specifics of the location and that the AP source got key details wrong in the report.

The NBPC and Border Patrol agents on the ground believe the agents were attacked due to eyewitness testimony from the scene, the massive manhunt that was mobilized and sustained, and the realities of the area with respect to its high levels of Mexican narcotics trafficking and human smuggling. The area is approximately 30 miles from the Texas border with Mexico.

The left-of-center news outlets alleging that authorities believe an accident is to blame are largely giving half-truths. In any such investigation, the FBI would consider all possibilities–including that an accident was at fault or that an attack was to blame. This is standard procedure.

The only certainty at this point is that the public will not know exactly what occurred until the FBI decides it is appropriate to release more information.

Brandon Darby is managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and Stephen K. Bannon. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and Stephen K. Bannon.  You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.

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