FBI probes border agent's death


January 27, 2008


By Jerry Seper - FBI agents from the San Diego field office are leading the investigation into the death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent run down by suspected drug smugglers about a mile north of the Mexican border in California.

Jesus Navarro Montes, 22, was named last week as the driver of a Hummer that struck and killed agent Luis Aguilar Jr., 32, a six-year Border Patrol veteran, as he placed spike strips near the Imperial Sand Dunes in California, 20 miles west of Yuma, Ariz.

Mr. Navarro was taken into custody Tuesday by Mexican authorities in the northern state of Sonora.

FBI spokeswoman April L. Langwell said the bureau is seeking information regarding the Aguilar death, which she described as "an ongoing investigation." She said anyone with information that might be useful to investigators should call the San Diego FBI office at 858/565-1255.

The Mexican Embassy in Washington, which announced the arrest of Mr. Navarro, said a preliminary investigation into the killing found that he had left the city of Mexicali and was headed for the United States "driving a Hummer vehicle, presumably carrying drugs."

The Embassy said as Border Patrol agents tried to stop the vehicle, "Agent Aguilar was run down, and Mr. Navarro fled the scene back to Mexican territory." Mr. Navarro previously had been detained and jailed for smuggling 10 illegal aliens into the U.S., it said, adding that there also was a warrant for his arrest in Mexicali on alien-trafficking counts.

Mexican authorities said Mr. Navarro will be prosecuted on the pending charges in Mexico, but they are awaiting an extradition request from the United States. Mexico does not extradite suspects who could face the death penalty, and first-degree murder of a federal officer is a capital offense.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in San Diego, which will prosecute the case, has declined to comment on whether it will seek the death penalty.

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