Woman charged after death of US patrol agent in gunfight near Canadian border
Woman charged after death of US patrol agent in gunfight near Canadian border
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Teresa Youngblut, 21, charged with weapons crimes over highway shootout in which German man also died. A Washington state woman has been charged in the fatal shooting of a US border patrol agent during a Vermont traffic stop that happened days after authorities began watching her and a German companion, who also died in the highway shootout, the FBI said on Friday.
Teresa Youngblut, 21, faces two weapons charges in connection with the death of the border patrol agent David Maland, 44, who died on Monday during the shootout in Coventry, a small town about 20 miles from the Canadian border. According to an FBI affidavit, a border agent pulled over Youngblut and Felix Bauckholt on Interstate 91 to conduct an immigration inspection. At the time, Bauckholt appeared to have an expired visa according to a US Department of Homeland Security database – but investigators later confirmed that his visa was current, the FBI said on Friday.
Youngblut, who had been driving Bauckholt’s car, got out and opened fire on Maland and other officers without warning, the FBI alleges. Bauckholt tried to draw a gun but was shot dead, the affidavit states. At least one border agent fired on Youngblut and Bauckholt, but authorities have not specified whose bullets hit whom.
“The events leading to this prosecution tragically demonstrate how the men and women of law enforcement regularly put their lives on the line as they try to keep our communities and our country safe,” the acting US attorney Michael Drescher said in a statement.
