Border Patrol Agent Killed in Texas, Partner Seriously Injured in Attack

Authorities are searching southwest Texas for suspects or witnesses after a U.S. Border Patrol agent was killed and his partner seriously injured Sunday while on patrol in the state’s Big Bend area, officials said.

Agent Rogelio Martinez and his partner were “responding to activity” near Interstate 10 in Van Horn, Tex., when both were seriously injured, according to a Customs and Border Protection  news release .

Martinez died of his injuries; his partner, who was not identified, remained in the hospital in serious condition, officials said.

Martinez, a 36-year-old from El Paso, had been a border agent since August 2013.

A Customs and Border Protection spokesman declined to offer any further details about what happened. But a National Border Patrol Council labor union official said Martinez may have been killed in a rock attack.

Del Cueto said he was told that Martinez and his partner apparently did not sustain bullet or stab wounds — so he suspects the pair may have been attacked with rocks, which are commonly thrown at agents working in that area, the Washington Post reports.