By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
A 17-year-old was sentenced Thursday in San Diego to 40 years in prison for the fatal shooting of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection Border Patrol Agent during a robbery attempt last July 23 at the U.S.-Mexico border, authorities announced.
Christian Daniel Castro-Alvarez admitted in U.S. District Court that he crossed the Mexican border into the U.S. and tried to rob Border Patrol Agent Robert Rosas near the town of Campo, Calif.
Castro-Alvarez and other men lured the agent out of his vehicle to rob him, authorities said. During the robbery, agent Rosas and Castro-Alvarez struggled over a firearm.
The agent was then shot multiple times by the Castro-Alvarez and one or more of his accomplices, authorities said.
Authorities say Castro-Alvarez was a minor at the time and voluntarily surrendered to the United States. He also agreed to have the proceedings transferred from a juvenile to adult proceeding.
“This brutal act of violence on a U.S. Border Patrol agent cannot and will not be tolerated,” Acting Chief Patrol Agent Richard A. Barlow of the U.S. Border Patrol’s San Diego Sector said in a statement. “Although Mr. Castro-Alvarez has well earned this long custodial sentence, his punishment will never repay the debt he owes to those he has affected and who grieve the murder of Agent Rosas.”
