Border Patrol agent likely killed by friendly fire

WASHINGTON -- Federal investigators believe that the fatal shooting of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Nicholas Ivie was the result of friendly fire.

In a Friday night statement, the FBI said that while an inquiry was continuing, "there are strong preliminary indications that the death of Ivie and the injury to a second agent was the result of an accidental shooting incident involving only the agents."

A federal law enforcement official familiar with the investigation said Friday that it appears the agents, while responding to a tripped ground sensor near the U.S.- Mexico border early Wednesday, became disoriented and were caught in their own fire.

It is not believed that others were involved in the shooting.

Ivie's death prompted a massive search for potential suspects in the remote corridor, a popular transit area for human smugglers and drug traffickers and near where fellow Agent Brian Terry was slain in a gunbattle with smugglers in 2010. Terry's shooting helped expose a botched gun trafficking operation in which federal investigators allowed 2,000 firearms to fall into the hands of Mexican drug cartel operatives and other criminals.

Two weapons traced to the operation were recovered at the scene of Terry's killing, but the weapon used to kill the agent has not been identified.

In the Ivie shooting, local authorities first speculated that suspects may have fled to Mexico, prompting calls for Mexican government officials to assist in the investigation.