Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
The Border Patrol agent who pulled the trigger in a deadly shooting along the California-Mexico border last week had just over two years on the job, ABC 10 News reports.
Agent Daniel Basinger is now back on duty.
The shooting happened around 6:40 a.m. on Feb. 18 after two agents split up to capture fleeing suspects who were trying to cross the border into the U.S. That’s when a third suspect was spotted.
Basinger “ordered the man to stop in English and Spanish but he fled on foot,” Giannantonio said. “The agent chased after him, following him down a ravine and back up the opposite hillside.”
The agent then came under attack from fist-sized rocks thrown by the suspect.
“One of the larger rocks struck the agent in the head,” he said. “Fearing that another rock strike to the head could kill or incapacitate him, the agent fired his duty pistol at least twice at the man, striking him.”
