Arrest Made in Connection With Shooting Death of Border Patrol Agent
A 21-year-old woman was arrested and charged on Friday with assaulting federal law enforcement officers with a deadly weapon, after the shooting death on Monday of a U.S.Border Patrol agent on Interstate 91 near the Canadian border.The woman, Teresa Youngblut, was driving south on Interstate 91 in Coventry, Vt., at about 3 p.m.
on Monday when Border Patrol agents pulled her car over to conduct an immigration inspection, according to case documents.During the stop, agents reported, Ms.
Youngblut drew a handgun and fired it at them without warning.At least one agent returned fire.David Maland, a 44-year-old Border Patrol agent who was known as Chris, was injured in the exchange of gunfire and later pronounced dead at North Country Hospital in Newport, Vt.
The sole passenger in Ms.Youngblut’s car, Felix Baukholt, a German citizen, was also shot, and later pronounced dead at the scene.
Ms.Youngblut was injured by gunfire and hospitalized at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H., where she remained on Friday.
Her initial hearing in federal court, on one count of using a deadly weapon while assaulting a Border Patrol agent and one count of using and discharging a firearm during that assault, has not yet been scheduled.She faces a maximum sentence of life in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years if convicted of the charges, according to the office of Acting U.S.Attorney Michael P.
Drescher.Ms.Youngblut and Mr.
Baukholt had been under surveillance by law enforcement officials for nearly a week before the shooting occurred, according to an F.B.I.affidavit.
An employee at a hotel where they were staying in Lyndonville, Vt., had reported concerns about the pair of guests, who had been seen dressed in “all black, tactical-style clothing with protective equipment,” with Ms.Youngblut also carrying what appeared to be a weapon in an exposed-carry holster.Investigators who searched their car after the shooting found tactical gear including...