A U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent on Wednesday shot and killed a migrant woman in Rio Bravo, Texas, BuzzFeed News reported.
The agent was investigating a report of illegal activity near a culvert, according to the report. After he approached a group of immigrants, they reportedly tried to attack him with “blunt objects.” During the altercation, the agent shot a woman in the head.
According to the report, the agent gave the woman CPR until emergency crews arrived, but she later died from her injury. Other people ran after the shot was fired. They were later detained by other agents, Border Patrol told Buzz Feed.
Marta Martinez lives next to the site where the woman was shot, and she livestreamed what was happening on Facebook.
She told BuzzFeed she saw a woman lying on the ground but could not determine her age.
"I heard a Border Patrol agent screaming, 'See what happens? See what you caused?'" Martinez told BuzzFeed.
According to Martinez, Border Patrol agents flipped the woman over and saw she was bleeding heavily from the left side of her face. Her video shows a Border Patrol agent walking out of an empty building with two people in handcuffs.
Martinez is heard saying to the agent, “Why did you kill that woman? You killed her. I saw you with the gun."
She also said she did not see the migrants attacking the agent before the woman was shot.
"The girl was in the grass and trees; to me she was hiding," Martinez told BuzzFeed. "They're saying they threw rocks at the agents, but the two migrants were scared and the one guy was scared — they didn't have rocks in their hands."
The FBI and the Texas Rangers are investigating.
Figures released by the agency reflected a 73 percent increase in attacks on Border Patrol agents, from 454 in fiscal year 2016 to 786 in 2017.
