Looks like things are heating up at the Canadian border! Unlike the U.S. , I don't think Canada puts their border patrol agents in prison for shooting at drug smugglers, etc.

July 8, 2008

Agent shoots at suspects near Canadian line in Vt.

By WILSON RING


MONTPELIER, Vt. - A U.S. Border Patrol agent shot at three suspects early Monday after being assaulted on a residential street near the Vermont-Quebec border, the agency said.

An officer on routine patrol stopped two males and a female walking in Derby Line, a group of residential streets that straddle the border, at about 2:15 a.m., said spokesman Mark Henry. The agent, who was not identified, spoke with the three briefly before they began assaulting him, he said.

"They knocked him down, there was a struggle," Henry said. "One subject started punching and hitting him; at that point he became concerned for his life."

The agent fired two shots. A male and the female were taken into custody. The other male fled into Canada.



The agent wasn't seriously hurt, Henry said.

Neither of those in custody was wounded. Agents don't know about the other suspect.

Henry said it was up to the U.S. Attorney's office to release the identities of those in custody.

Assistant United States Attorney James Gelber said Monday he could not comment on the case.

Monday's was the third shooting in 11 months involving Border Patrol agents in the agency's Swanton Sector, a 295-mile long stretch that runs from Ogdensburg, N.Y., to the New Hampshire-Maine border.

In May, a Border Patrol agent in Malone, N.Y., shot and wounded a New York man accused of smuggling marijuana into the United States on an all terrain vehicle.

In October, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrested more than 40 people trying to enter Canada illegally through Derby Line.

In August, a Border Patrol agent in Alburgh, Vt., fired his weapon at a car that had illegally entered the country after the driver twice tried to run him over. There have been no arrests in that case.

At the time, Border Patrol officials said they believed it was the first time one of their agents fired a weapon at the border in the northeastern United States.

The Border Patrol and Royal Canadian Mounted Police have discussed with residents of Derby Line and Stanstead, Quebec, the possibility of blocking those streets at the border, but residents have resisted because they're accustomed to crossing from one country to the other with ease.



http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation ... 5839.story