Was Agent Killed With Cartel Guns Supplied by US?

The family of a US immigration agent who was shot dead by Mexican drug cartel gangsters is demanding to know if the guns that killed him came from the bungled federal "Fast and Furious" sting operation that put hundreds of weapons into the hands of smugglers, reports the Los Angeles Times. But so far, US officials are refusing to discuss the guns that killed Jaime Zapata earlier this year. "What happened with Jaime needs to come out," the family's lawyer says. "The likelihood that these were Fast and Furious guns is certainly plausible."

So far, nine people have been arrested by Mexican authorities in the Zapata killing, including a drug cartel leader. "Like you, the department wants to ensure that his murderers are brought to justice," states a letter to the family written by an official at the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the immigration agency. The family is also trying to speak with a second immigration agent who survived the shooting and to find out whether Zapata was armed that night, but so far, government officials are refusing to talk. (More Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms stories.)