US feds investigate reported fatal border shooting

LAREDO, Texas (AP) — A U.S. Border Patrol spokesman says federal officials are investigating after the Mexican government said a Mexican citizen was killed when an agent patrolling the Rio Grande fired his weapon across the border.

Border Patrol spokesman Bill Brooks said Thursday that a group of people began throwing rocks at agents who were aboard a boat near Laredo, Texas, on Monday. Brooks says an agent opened fire toward Nuevo Laredo across the border.

Brooks says it wasn’t immediately clear whether anyone was hit by the bullets. Mexico’s Foreign Relations Department has issued a statement saying a Mexican was fatally shot.

FBI spokesman Erick Vasys says his agency is investigating the rock-throwing as an attack on federal officers and the shooting will be part of an internal review by the Border Patrol.