U.S. Border Patrol agent killed in Vermont shooting near Canada

An injured suspect was taken into custody after the violence on Interstate 91 in Coventry, about 32 kilometres from the Canadian border, the FBI said in a statement.

Authorities on Tuesday are investigating a fatal shooting of a U.S. Border Patrol agent that also left a suspect dead and another injured on a Vermont highway near Canada, authorities said.

The agent’s death Monday afternoon was confirmed by the FBI and Benjamine Huffman, acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security in Washington. The injured suspect was taken into custody after the violence on Interstate 91 in Coventry, about 20 miles (32 km) from the Canadian border, the FBI said in a statement.

Coventry is close to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Newport Station, part of the Swanton Sector that encompasses Vermont and parts of New York and New Hampshire. The area includes 295 miles (475 kilometers) of international boundary with Canada.

A portion of the interstate was closed after the shooting and fully reopened less than a day later.

Huffman said the agent died “in the line of duty.” The identity of the agent, who was assigned to the U.S. Border Patrol’s Swanton Sector, was not immediately released.

The agent was shot at 3:15 p.m. on the interstate in Orleans County, a small community of 27,000 residents in the rural and remote Northeast Kingdom section of Vermont that straddles the Canadian border.

The Derby Line–Rock Island Border Crossing is located about 12 miles (19.3 kilometers) by highway north of Coventry. It’s a major link to the Canadian province of Quebec, giving northern Vermont more French speakers than most of New England.

Vincent Illuzzi, the state’s attorney in neighboring Essex County, drove past what appeared to be a U.S. Border Patrol agent traffic stop on I-91 past the Newport exit Monday afternoon, he said, shortly before authorities reported the shots were fired.