$1 million reward being offered for border patrol officer’s alleged killers
A US Border Patrol agent passes photos of slain Border Patrol agent Brian Terry during a memorial service on January 21, 2011 in Tucson, Arizona. Terry was killed during a December14 shootout with suspected bandits near the US-Mexico Border. Thousands of Border Patrol agents and fellow law enforcement officers from across Arizona turned out for the memorial service held at Kino baseball stadium in Tucson. With U.S. agents tracking drug smugglers and illegal immigrants all along the border, the region is one of the most militarized areas of the United States.
Federal authorities released the indictment of five people responsible for the 2010 murder of US Border Patrol agent Brian Terry Monday, and have offered up to $1 million reward for information about four of the defendants who are still at large, the New York Times reported.
Terry was shot on December 14, 2010 on the Arizona-Mexico border while involved in a gunfight with the suspects, who had entered the United States illegally so that they could steal marijuana from Mexican drug traffickers, CBS News reported.
The US Border agent's death revealed the secret federal program called Fast and Furious, run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Los Angeles Times reported. Federal officials allowed about 2,500 illegal gun purchases along the border with the aim of tracking down Mexican drug cartels under the covert operation. However, it was botched, with most of the weapons lost.
A dispute over Operation Fast and Furious documents led to Attorney General Eric Holder being held in contempt of Congress in June, according to ABC News.
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The indictment was handed up by a federal grand jury in Arizona on November 7, 2011, but was not unsealed until this week, CNN reported.
The indictment charges Manuel Osorio-Arellanes, Jesus Rosario Favela-Astorga, Ivan Soto-Barraza, Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes and Lionel Portillo-Meza with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery, attempted interference with commerce by robbery, carrying and using a firearm during a crime of violence, assault on a federal officer and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, according to CNN.
Rito Osorio-Arellanes, a sixth defendant, was conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery, CNN reported.
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Manuel Osorio-Arellanes was arrested on the night of the shooting, according to CBS News, but Favela-Astorga, Soto-Barraza, Portillo-Meza, and Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes remain at large, most likely in Mexico.
"Brian Terry was truly an agent's agent," U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California Laura E. Duffy said at the press conference today, ABC News reported. "We will not rest until these individuals are brought to justice."
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