Five indicted in killing of Border agent Terry

The Justice Department unsealed an indictment on Monday charging five men in connection with the killing of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.
 
The 11-count indictment is a major development in the scandal surrounding Operation Fast and Furious, which authorized the sale of nearly 2,000 guns — including two found at Terry’s murder scene — to straw buyers for Mexican drug cartels.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who has led the Congressional probe into Fast and Furious and spearheaded placing Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for allegedly not cooperating with the investigation, called the unsealing of the indictments politically motivated.

Issa said the DOJ’s announcement was the Obama administration’s attempt to place “politics over good policy” because it came so closely on the heels of the House’s vote to place Holder in contempt.

Issa, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has been grilling the DOJ for more than 16 months over its involvement in Fast and Furious.

“It's very clear that the timing has everything to do with the House of Representatives holding Eric Holder in contempt for not turning over information,” he said on Fox News following the DOJ’s announcement.

“For 18 months they have known and haven't done everything they could do to capture these individuals. This is another example of using politics over good policy," Issa said.

Holder lauded the indictment as a great step forward and a sign that his agency would not rest until Terry’s murderers were punished.
 
“This investigation has previously resulted in one defendant being charged with Agent Terry’s murder and taken into custody, and today’s announcement reflects the department’s unrelenting commitment to finding and arresting the other individuals responsible for this horrific tragedy so that Agent Terry’s family, friends and fellow law enforcement agents receive the justice they deserve,” Holder said in a statement.
 
The DOJ alleges that the men illegally entered the United States from Mexico in December 2010 and engaged in a firefight with Border Patrol agents, during which Terry was killed.
 
The five men were charged with crimes ranging from first- and second-degree murder to conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery and carrying a firearm during a crime of violence, authorities said. A sixth man was indicted on a separate charge that did not involve murder, authorities said.

Two of the men listed in the indictments have been in federal custody since December 2010. The other four are still at large and presumed to be hiding in Mexico, according to published reports.

The DOJ said it was taking the rare step of unsealing the indictment ahead of the capture of the four remaining men "in order to seek the public’s assistance in locating the fugitive defendants."

The DOJ is offering up to $1 million as a reward for information that leads to the arrest of the four remaining suspects.

The Terry killing has become a centerpiece of Congress’s investigation into Fast and Furious.
 
Republicans argue that senior officials within the DOJ were responsible for authorizing the operation and should also be held responsible for actions that led to Terry’s death. Democrats, while striving to bring Terry’s killers to justice, are pushing for stronger gun trafficking laws to ensure a flawed operation such as Fast and Furious never arises again.
 
Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, praised the DOJ on Monday and vowed to deliver the truth of the circumstances surrounding the murder to the Terry family.
 
“I remain dedicated to ensuring that his family and the American people get the answers they deserve,” he said in a statement.
 
Congress began investigating Fast and Furious after whistleblowers came to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the ranking member on the Judiciary Committee, with information about the flawed operation and suggestions that at least one of the guns found at Terry’s killing might have been sold under the operation.
 
Fast and Furious was a failed federal attempt to dismantle gun trafficking routes into Mexico.
 
Issa has pursued the issue most vehemently, issuing a series of subpoenas to the DOJ and grilling Holder, whom he successfully moved to place in contempt of Congress last month for failing to turn over requested documents.