A U.S. Border Patrol agent was involved in a shooting that injured one person early Tuesday morning near 4th and A streets, according to the FBI.
The injured person was transported to the hospital, the FBI said in a statement, adding that a firearm was recovered at the scene.
No agents were hurt. No information was released about the person who was taken to the hospital.
On Wednesday, Nathanial A. Muniz-Spry, 39, of Everson, appeared in federal court in Seattle on a federal criminal complaint accusing him of being a felon in possession of a firearm in connection with the shooting. Authorities didn’t provide additional information, but a Seattle Times story on Wednesday afternoon said Muniz-Spry was the one who was shot — in the leg.
The shooting occurred in a residential neighborhood adjacent to a wooded area and roughly 320 feet from the U.S.-Canada border.
“This was an isolated incident, and there is no danger to the public,” the FBI said in a statement, declining to release additional information.
Law enforcement were dispatched to the site at 5:30 a.m., according to Blaine Police, who sent inquiries about the incident to the FBI. U.S. Customs and Border Protection also didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Agencies at the scene included U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Blaine Police Department, the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office and Border Patrol. People were kept back from the scene.
“We ask for your assistance and patience in the area,” the Blaine Police Department posted on Facebook on Tuesday morning.
A resident in the area, who asked not to be identified, said they tried to leave for an appointment at 7:50 a.m. Tuesday but weren’t allowed out.
Len Saunders, a U.S. immigration attorney who has lived in Blaine for 25 years, showed up to the scene when he heard about the incident, saying he knew the area was close to the border.
“That’s a pretty big response to a shooting in Blaine,” he said.
Saunders said he spoke to a law enforcement official who told him the area near the shooting — wooded and close to the border — was a well-known smuggling area.
