Dead Border Patrol Agent's Union: Rogelio Martinez Was Murdered, 'Struck In The Head With Rocks', But FBI Found 'No Evidence'

Dead Texas Border Patrol agent Rogelio Martinez was killed in an ambush attack with rocks, according to his union. But the FBI said it found no conclusive evidence for murder, and the case remains unsolved.

The President Trump administration continues to call for peace and said they have no plans to use firearms against the migrant caravan at this time.

Brandon Judd, president of the labor union, said Agent Rogelio Martinez died Sunday of blunt force trauma to the head.

“I have been told by several agents that it was a grisly scene, and that his injuries were very extensive,” Judd said Monday in a phone interview with The Washington Post. “We believe he was struck in the head with rocks, or multiple rocks.”

President Donald J. Trump promised in a Sunday Tweet to hunt down anyone responsible for the early morning attack that day that killed Border Patrol Agent Rogelio Martinez and injured another agent along the Mexican border near the Big Bend National Park.

“Border Patrol Officer killed at Southern Border, another badly hurt,” the president Tweeted. “We will seek out and bring to justice those responsible. We will, and must, build the Wall!”

The wall along the border was one of the most popular campaign promise Trump made during his run for the White House.

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The Big Bend National Park abuts the Mexican town of Boquillas and there is an official crossing port of entry for park visitors crossing the border into and back from the town.

Boquillas del Carmen, Mexico seen from the Rio Grande Village Nature Trail.(NPS Photo by Cookie Ballou)

Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke Sunday said Martinez was killed on patrol.

“Earlier this morning, I was notified that Border Patrol Agent Rogelio Martinez died as a result of serious injuries suffered while on patrol in the Big Bend Sector of our southern border in Texas. Agent Martinez was responding to activity while on patrol with another agent, who was also seriously injured,” he said.

“We are fully supporting the ongoing investigation to determine the cause of this tragic event,” he said. “On behalf of the quarter of a million frontline officers and agents of DHS, my thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of Agent Martinez and to the agent who is in serious condition.”

The FBI says it has conducted more than 650 interviews and found no evidence that Border Patrol Agent Rogelio Martinez’s fatal injuries were caused by an attack, despite his union’s insistence that he was murdered. After an autopsy released Tuesday stated that Martinez died from blunt-force trauma from an undetermined cause, the FBI said it had investigated several theories, but none of the interviews, “locations searched, or evidence collected and analyzed have produced evidence that would support the existence of a scuffle, altercation, or attack,” reports the Los Angeles Times. Martinez and fellow agent Stephen Garland, who survived, were found in a 9-foot-deep culvert next to Interstate 10 in the Big Bend Sector of Texas Nov. 18 with head injuries and broken bones.

According to an internal US Customs and Border Protection memo seen by CNN, neither man had defensive wounds, the only footprints found at the scene belonged to the agents and first responders, and “there was no third-party blood or DNA evidence from the scene or from the agents’ clothing.” The memo also states that Garland has trouble remembering the incident, which occurred late at night. The FBI says Garland told a dispatcher at the time that they were both hurt and he thought they “ran into a culvert.” The local sheriff has said he thinks the men may have been sideswiped by a truck. Department of Justice sources tell CNN that theories being investigated include an attack, an accident, or an altercation between the agents. The incident led President Trump to renew his calls for a border wall.

Dead Border Patrol Agent’s Union: Rogelio Martinez Was Murdered, ‘Struck In The Head With Rocks’, But FBI Found ‘No Evidence’

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