By Patrick Whittle and Kathy McCormack of the Associated Press
According to his family, a U.S. Border Patrol agent who was killed in Vermont while conducting a traffic stop close to the Canadian border was a veteran of the armed forces who was on security duty at the Pentagon at the time of the September 11 attacks.
His family told The Associated Press late Wednesday that he was a loyal agent who served with courage and respect. He genuinely exemplified service over self and was quite proud of the work he conducted.
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson announced in a statement that Agent David Maland was killed Monday afternoon after a traffic stop. An injured suspect was arrested and is receiving treatment at a nearby hospital, while a German national who was in the country on what the FBI referred to as a current visa was killed.
In Coventry, which is a part of Orleans County, a small community of 27,000 people in the Northeast Kingdom region of Vermont that straddles the international border, the violence briefly closed a portion of Interstate 91 about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from Canada.
Maland was slain near the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Newport Station, which is a component of the Swanton Sector to which he was assigned, and the FBI verified that he was a veteran of the U.S. Air Force. The region contains a 295-mile (475-kilometer) international border with Canada, as well as portions of New York, New Hampshire, and Vermont.
North of Coventry, the Derby Line Rock Island Border Crossing is roughly 12 miles (19 kilometers) away via roadway. Northern Vermont has more French speakers than the majority of New England because of its significant connection to the Canadian province of Quebec.
In a statement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection expressed its condolences and prayers for Agent Maland’s family during this trying time. Governor Phil Scott and local Republican state senator Russ Ingalls called the killing a tragedy.
Just before authorities claimed that shots were fired, Vincent Illuzzi, the state’s attorney for neighboring Essex County, said he drove passed what seemed to be a U.S. Border Patrol agent traffic stop on I-91 past the Newport exit Monday afternoon.
He told The Associated Press over the phone on Tuesday, “I’m going down the road, not much traffic, and I saw them on the right.”
He stated the agent was operating an unmarked white pickup vehicle with flashing red and blue lights and a cab on it. He described the stopped vehicle as a little, blue automobile. He said the agent was talking to a person standing behind his truck, in front of the vehicle.
Illuzzi claimed there was nothing out of the ordinary at that point, but when he returned to the highway later that evening, it appeared that additional police enforcement vehicles had come and the same two cars were still parked.
According to Illuzzi, state and municipal law enforcement in his area collaborate closely with the U.S. Border Patrol. Although they are frequently the first responders in emergency situations, our law enforcement is small.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection records show that Maland was the first Border Patrol agent slain in the line of duty since 2014, when Javier Vega Jr. was shot and killed near Santa Monica, Texas. According to the agency, Vega was re-determined to have been in the line of duty in 2016 after first being deemed off duty at the time of his death.
The 2010 murder of Brian Terry brought the disastrous Fast and Furious federal firearms operation to light. In 2012, Agent Nicholas J. Ivie of the Brian A. Terry Border Patrol Station was killed while performing his duties in a remote location close to Bisbee, Arizona. In 2017, Agent Isaac Morales of the Border Patrol was fatally murdered in Texas while he was not on duty.
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