STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.</s>RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST: And I'm Renee Montagne.</s>RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST: The death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent is now under investigation. Nicholas Ivie was on patrol in the desert along the Mexican border with Arizona yesterday when he was shot. NPR's Ted Robbins reports.</s>TED ROBBINS, BYLINE: The area between the towns of Naco and Bisbee, Arizona, has been a smuggling route for decades. The Border Patrol has stationed hundreds of agents there. Three agents were responding to a ground sensor, which was tripped, when someone opened fire. Nicolas Ivie was killed, a second agent was wounded, the third was not hit. Ivie was 30 years old. He had been a Border Patrol agent for three years. Customs and Border Protection Commander for Arizona Jeffrey Self spoke at a news conference in Naco.</s>JEFFREY SELF: His death only strengthens our resolve to enforce the rule of law and bring those responsible to justice.</s>TED ROBBINS, BYLINE: Officials released few details. But much of the media and some politicians tried to tie the killing to the Brian Terry case. Terry was a Border Patrol agent killed near Nogales, Arizona almost two years ago. The guns used to shoot him were later traced to Fast and Furious, a botched Justice Department operation which allowed weapons bought in the U.S. to be taken to Mexican drug smugglers. F.B.I. agent James Turgal would not yet make that link.</s>JAMES TURGAL: I'm not going to talk about the Terry case. We need to stay on message here. This is about the sad loss of life of Agent Ivie.</s>TED ROBBINS, BYLINE: There was one connection. Nicolas Ivie was based at the Naco Border Patrol station, which was renamed for Brian Terry only a few weeks ago.</s>TED ROBBINS, BYLINE: Ted Robbins, NPR News, Tucson.
The investigation continues into Tuesday's fatal shooting of a Border Patrol agent near the Arizona-Mexico border. He was one of three agents responding to a ground sensor activated just north of the border. A second agent was wounded in the attack.