U.S. Border Patrol Shooting-1 dead, 1 critical, 1 OK. Manhunt underway

A Border Patrol agent was killed while patrolling on horseback near the Arizona patrol station named after Brian Terry, another agent killed on duty in 2010.

2:22PM EST October 2. 2012 - WASHINGTON -- Federal and state authorities have launched a widespread manhunt along a remote part of the U.S.-Mexico border for three to four suspects in a Tuesday morning shooting that left one Border Patrol agent dead and another wounded.

Dozens of investigators in helicopters and on horseback were searching an area as large as 20 miles for the suspects who allegedly opened fire on the agents when they approached to check on a tripped ground sensor.

"It was basically an ambush,'' said Cochise County Sheriff's Department Commander Marc Denney, whose agency is assisting the FBI in the search and investigation.

Denney said no weapons have been recovered. It was also unclear whether the suspects were involved in human smuggling or drug trafficking through a rocky corridor, about five miles from the Mexican border.

Denney said it was possible the suspects fled into Mexico following the shooting.

"They had a little bit of a jump on us,'' he said. "It is very rocky terrain. We're hoping that they hunkered down somewhere close by so that we have an opportunity to find them.''

The shooting occurred shortly before 2 a.m., when three agents on horseback were dispatched to an area near Naco after the ground sensor had been activated, said George McCubbin, president of the National Border Patrol Council an association of 17,000 agents and staffers.

McCubbin said one of the agents was killed, another wounded in the ankle and buttocks and third escaped without injury. The wounded agent, McCubbin said, was recovering at a local hospital.The agents were not identified, but McCubbin said they were assigned to the Border Patrol station re-named just two weeks ago in honor of Agent Brian Terry.