Two law enforcement officers tell The Associated Press the FBI is investigating the possibility that the shooting death of a border patrol agent and the wounding of another was a case of friendly fire. The probe is looking into whether the two agents exchanged gunfire near the Arizona-Mexico border Tuesday in the mistaken belief that each was being fired on by a hostile gunman.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter is under investigation.
At FBI headquarters, spokesman Chris Allen declined to comment.
The shootings occurred in a rugged hilly area about five miles north of the border near Bisbee, as Nicholas Ivie and two other agents responded to an alarm that was triggered on one of the sensors that the government has installed along the border. Ivie was fatally shot.