By Jaimee Rose and Cassondra Strande
The Arizona Republic
NACO — The FBI will announce today the fatal shooting of a Border Patrol agent east of here involved “friendly fire,” in which agents shot at each other while believing the other was a hostile assailant, three sources close to the investigation told The Arizona Republic.
George McCubbin, president of the National Border Patrol Council, told The Republic the three agents had split into two groups when they went to investigate a tripped ground sensor.
Nicholas Ivie, the agent who was killed, was approaching from the north, and the other two agents were approaching from the south, said McCubbin, citing information he received from the Border Patrol.
“Coming in from different angles that is more than likely how it ended up happening,” McCubbin said.
All three agents fired their weapons, McCubbin said. He did not know which agent fired their weapon first, McCubbin said.McCubbin said he did not know whether the three agents actually encountered anyone at the scene.
