Border Patrol agents killed in pursuit of suspected drug smugglers

Each day in southern Arizona, counternarcotics teams search the desert for signs of drug smugglers, then radio ahead to fellow officers with instructions on where to confront the suspects.

Early Thursday, U.S. Border Patrol agents Edward Rojas Jr. and Hector Clark were stationed near Gila Bend, on assignment with a task force, when they got a call about marijuana smugglers moving toward Interstate 8.

Even veteran officers talk about the adrenaline rush that comes with such a call, which causes a sort of tunnel vision. Rojas and Clark sped west on a frontage road parallel to railroad tracks, slightly ahead of a freight train going in the same direction at over 60 mph.

The conductor and engineer would later tell investigators that they sounded the locomotive whistle several times. Suddenly, the agents' vehicle turned left onto a private rail crossing, immediately in front of the 4,600-ton train.

Photographs of the mangled blue Border Patrol vehicle suggest a horrific crunch of metal and glass.

The unmarked vehicle was broadsided and shoved more than a half-mile before the train managed to stop.

Clark and Rojas were pronounced dead at the scene, becoming the 112th and 113th U.S. Border Patrol agents to lose their lives in the line of duty. The last agent to die was Brian Terry, killed in a December shootout with drug bandits near Rio Rico.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano issued a statement of "great sadness," adding, "The entire DHS family expresses our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of these agents. We also keep in our thoughts and prayers all of those who put their lives at risk every day, at home and abroad, to defend our country."

Clark, a 39-year-old Yuma native who began his career in 2001, is survived by his wife and two children. Rojas, a 35-year-old originally from El Paso, joined the Border Patrol in 2000 and was married with two children.

Both men served as lead agents in the Yuma Sector.

The accident occurred about 6 a.m. in an area known as a rendezvous for vehicles and smugglers traveling by foot. Kenneth Quillin, a spokesman with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said the agents were part of a federally funded task force assigned to the area, working with other law officers to intercept marijuana runners.

After the wreck, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office announced that eight suspects were arrested about 400 to 500 yards from the crash site, but they had not been directly linked to the group tracked earlier in the day. More than 300 pounds of marijuana were seized.

The crash occurred nine miles west of Gila Bend, near Paloma Road. A group that had hiked about 70 miles from the border was being tracked from the south. Quillin said Clark and Rojas were positioning themselves to cut off the group from the north.

It was unclear Thursday why the agents turned in front of the train.

Francisco Gonzalez, an equipment supplier for local dairies, said he was driving west behind the Border Patrol vehicle after sunrise. He noted there are two sets of train tracks near the crash scene. Empty railcars were parked on the northern side, he said, but he did not believe the agents' view of the moving train was blocked.

Gonzalez said the agents' vehicle did not appear to be speeding, and he heard the train whistle blow at least three times. Then, the agents turned.

"I didn't see any brake lights. It was just a split second," Gonzalez said. "I just saw a cloud of dust, and that's all I saw. I knew right away, 'Oh my God.' "

Aaron Hunt, a Union Pacific Railroad spokesman, said crew members watched the vehicle move onto the tracks but were helpless to stop a train moving so fast with so much weight.

Hunt said the conductor and engineer, shaken by the accident, were relieved of duty and put in contact with a counselor.

Gov. Jan Brewer ordered flags in the state to be flown at half-staff.

"While we await details of how this tragedy happened," she said, "I ask that Arizonans join me in offering a prayer for these two agents and their friends and family."

The FBI, Maricopa County Sheriff's Office and Border Patrol are investigating.