In this undated photo provided by the Ivie family, Border Patrol Agent Nicholas Ivie is seen. Ivie, a 30-year-old father of two, was shot and killed in the sparsely populated desert in southeastern Arizona early Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2012.PHOENIX – The U.S. Border Patrol agent killed last week in a shooting in southern Arizona apparently opened fire on two fellow agents thinking they were armed smugglers and was killed when they returned fire, the head of the Border Patrol agents’ union said Sunday.
The two sets of agents approached an area where a sensor had been activated early Tuesday from different directions early Tuesday and encountered each other in an area of heavy brush, National Border Patrol Council president George McCubbin said.
Agent Nicholas Ivie apparently opened fire first and wounded one of the other agents but was killed in the return fire.
“I don’t know what it was he saw or heard that triggered this whole event,” McCubbin said. “Unfortunately it resulted in his death and another agent injured.”
Acting Cochise County Sheriff Rod Rothrock confirmed the scenario but would not say if Ivie was the first to shoot, saying that was up to the federal agencies involved.