U.S. law enforcement officials confirmed that a U.S. Border Patrol agent was shot by a gunman inside Mexico while he patrolled the Rio Grande.
The agent was shot while he was on a boat patrolling the river by a gunman that was on the Mexican side of the river near Brownsville, Texas, The Brownsville Herald reported.
Border Patrol spokesman Marcelino A. Medina gave the following statement:
On Tuesday, December 26, 2017, a Border Patrol Agent assigned to the Riverine Unit sustained a non-life threatening injury from a small caliber weapon resulting from an assault originating from the Mexican Riverbank. The incident is currently under investigation. More information will be provided as it becomes available.
BBTX’s Brandon Darby and Ildefonso Ortiz noted that Brownsville is near Matamoros, Tamaulipas, which is “the birthplace and a stronghold for Mexico’s Gulf Cartel, a criminal organization that profits from smuggling drugs and illegal aliens through Texas into several states including Oklahoma, Florida, Georgia, and others.”
In November, Border Patrol agent Rogelio Martinez, 36, died after he suffered severe injuries that he sustained while responding to a call in the Big Bend Sector.
Border Patrol Agent Brandon Judd, who is also president of the National Border Patrol Council, said at the time that initial reports seemed to indicate that Martinez was murdered by illegal aliens he was tracking.
“What we know is that Border Patrol Agent Rogilio Martinez appears to have been ambushed by a group of illegal aliens whom he was tracking,” Judd said. “Our agents’ reports from the ground say that he was struck in the head multiple times with a rock or rocks.”