A United States Border Patrol agent who was gunned down during a traffic stop in Vermont near the Canadian border was an Air Force veteran who worked at the Pentagon during 9/11, his family said in a statement following the shooting.
Agent David Maland, 44, who was killed on Monday, was a “devoted agent who served with honor and bravery,” his family said. “He had a tremendous respect and pride for the work he did; he truly embodied service over self.”
The shooting happened around 3:15 p.m. Monday on Interstate 91 in Coventry, close to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Newport Station, part of the Swanton Sector that Maland was assigned to. The sector encompasses Vermont, parts of New York and New Hampshire, and includes 295 miles of international boundary with Canada.
A German national who was in the country on what the FBI called a current visa was also killed and an injured suspect was taken into custody and is being treated at a local hospital, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said.
Maland’s family said his career spanned nine years in the military and 15 in the federal government.
“While working in Washington, D.C., he was active security in the Pentagon during 9/11,” the statement said.
Before heading to the northern border, he served in Texas, near the border with Mexico. The Minnesota native was also a K9 officer.
Maland, who family members called by his middle name, Chris, was about to propose to his partner, his aunt Joan Maland said.
“We are all devastated,” she told the Associated Press, describing him as an “exceptional person. Incredible man.”
The shooting temporarily closed part of Interstate 91 about 20 miles from Canada in Coventry, part of the small, 27,000-resident community of Orleans County in the Northeast Kingdom section of Vermont that straddles the international border.
The Derby Line–Rock Island Border Crossing is located about 12 miles by highway north of Coventry. It’s a major link to the Canadian province of Quebec, giving northern Vermont more French speakers than most of New England.
“U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s thoughts and prayers are with Agent Maland’s family during this difficult time,” the agency said in a statement. The death is a tragedy, said Gov. Phil Scott and state Sen. Russ Ingalls, a Republican who represents the area.
In a joint statement, Vermont’s Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Peter Welch and Rep. Becca Balint sent condolences to the agent’s family and said Border Patrol agents “deserve our full support in terms of staffing, pay and working conditions.”
Maland was the first Border Patrol agent to be killed in the line of duty since Javier Vega Jr. was shot and killed near Santa Monica, Texas, in 2014, according to records provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, AP reported.
