US agent, suspected smuggler killed off Puerto Rico coast

[Eugene]

Last edited Thu Nov 17, 2022, 08:35 PM - Edit history (1)

EDIT: article updated at link

Original AP headline: 3 US Customs agents shot, wounded off coast of Puerto Rico

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Source: Associated Press

US agent, suspected smuggler killed off Puerto Rico coast

By MICHAEL BALSAMO and JOSHUA GOODMAN
November 17, 2022

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent and a suspected smuggler died during a shootout Thursday off the Puerto Rico coast, authorities said. Two other U.S. officers were injured.

CBP’s Air and Marine Operations unit was on routine patrol around 8 a.m. Thursday when the shots were fired about 12 miles (19 kilometers) off the coast from Cabo Rojo, a major drug smuggling corridor for cocaine coming out of South America known as the Mona Passage, the agency said. It lies between Puerto Rico’s western coastline and the Dominican Republic.

Three CBP Marine Interdiction Agents exchanged gunfire with two people who were aboard the suspected smuggling ship, officials said. All three agents were shot and airlifted to local hospitals in Puerto Rico.

One of the agents was later pronounced dead. The agent’s identity was not immediately released and the condition of the other two agents was not immediately clear.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/customs-agents-shooting-puerto-rico-55811816baaeae6445ae09a9c56040e3