During the arrest of suspects thought to be involved in a string of violent bank heists, one FBI agent may have mistaken a fellow agent for a robber and fired the shot that killed him, according to a newspaper report.

Special Agent Barry Lee Bush, 52, died after being shot while helping take down the suspected robbers at a Readington bank, the Associated Press reports.

Bureau officials have released few details of Bush's death, pending an investigation, saying in a statement only that he "may have been fatally wounded as a result of the accidental discharge of another agent's weapon during a dynamic arrest situation."

But a report by The Star-Ledger of Newark for Sunday's newspapers that cites two law-enforcement sources close to the investigation says Bush's death may have been a case of mistaken identity.

Officials are looking into whether Bush stepped too close to the robbers' getaway vehicle as the arrest was going down and drew the fire of a SWAT team member who was on his first mission and mistook him for a robber, the newspaper reported.