Woman connected to the Zizians fired the bullet that killed a Vermont border agent, report says
In this undated and unknown location photo released by the Department of Homeland Security shows Border Patrol Agent David Maland posing with a service dog. (Department of Homeland Security via AP, File)
A woman charged in the January killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent during a Vermont traffic stop fired the bullet that struck him in the neck, authorities say in a new report.
Another agent fired back during the Jan. 20 stop, wounding Teresa Youngblut and killing her companion, Felix Bauckholt, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement Wednesday.
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Youngblut and Bauckholt were affiliated with the Zizians, a cultlike group that has also been linked to killings in Pennsylvania and California, authorities allege. The shootout happened after an agent pulled them over on Interstate 91 a few miles (kilometers) from the Canadian border.
About 30 minutes into the stop, the agents asked Youngblut and Bauckholt to get out of their car to be questioned, the border agency said in its report, which doesn’t name anyone involved. They reported that Youngblut “suddenly drew a firearm and opened fire,” killing the agent David Maland, it said.
One of four agents on the scene returned fire, striking Youngblut once in the arm and once in the leg. The same agent reported that Bauckholt began drawing a firearm from his side and that he ordered him to stop.
The agent said the man “failed to comply” and that he fired twice on the man, striking Bauckholt twice in the chest.
Two minutes after that exchange, an agent radioed in that another had suffered a critical gunshot wound to the neck, the report said. Agents and a Vermont state trooper rendered aid to him and he was driven to a hospital, where he died.
Youngblut was arrested and police attempted to place a tourniquet on her leg while awaiting emergency responders, according to the report.
In total, that agent fired about eight rounds and Youngblut fired four, according to the border agency. Two guns were later recovered from the scene that had been in Youngblut and Bauckholt’s possession, authorities said.
On Jan. 19, a border patrol agent assigned to a Homeland Security Investigations Task Force notified the border patrol Newport Station management of a report that the couple had checked into a hotel wearing black tactical gear on Jan. 13, according to the report. At least one of them was carrying a gun and both arrived in the Prius they were later in during the shootout.
The agent advised the Newport station that state and federal law enforcement officials “had previously identified the male as a German citizen, in possession of a H1B visa with unknown immigration status.”
Youngblut is charged with intentionally using a deadly weapon towards federal law enforcement, and using and discharging a firearm during an assault with a deadly weapon. She pleaded not guilty.
When asked to comment on the report, Fabienne Boisvert-DeFazio, a spokesperson for the U. S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Vermont, said the office “does not comment on ongoing cases beyond the public record.”