SUMAS, Wash. — American officials say a man fatally shot by a U.S. Border Patrol agent Thursday near the British Columbia border was wanted for murder in another jurisdiction and assaulted the agent with a chemical spray.
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection statement says border patrol agents responded when a sensor along the border was activated near the Sumas, Washington, border crossing at around 2:30 p.m.
In the statement, Blaine chief patrol agent Dan Harris Jr. says the man failed to follow verbal requests and displayed "erratic and threatening behaviour" before spraying an agent with an unidentified chemical.
Harris says the agent opened fire and killed the man, and the agent was then transported for medical treatment.
Whatcom County sheriff Bill Elfo told a news conference Friday morning that the man was wanted for murder in another jurisdiction, but he did not provide the location.
Elfo said investigators found a hatchet inside a backpack that the man was carrying.
An earlier media report identified the man killed as Daniel Paul, a 42-year-old wanted in Vancouver for the murder of his girlfriend. A Vancouver Police Department spokesman later said the man shot was not Paul.
The man's nationality and name have not yet been released by authorities.
The shooting took place on Kneuman Road, which is west of Sumas and about 300 metres from the U.S.-Canada border. The small, rural border crossing at Sumas is about 80 kilometres southeast of Vancouver.
Canada Border Services Agency spokeswoman Jennifer Bourque says the agency was not involved in the situation and Canada's port of entry was not affected.
Several federal and local U.S. agencies are now investigating. The Department of Homeland Security Inspector General and U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Internal Affairs are leading the probe.
Harris Jr. says the agents involved in the shooting are currently on administrative leave, as is standard policy. The agents have served between 10 and 19 years.
"A shooting is a very traumatic event for any law enforcement officer," he says. "Taking another human's life is the last thing that we want to do. Our agents are dealing with the emotional aftermath of such an event."
