A border agent shot a woman believed to be an illegal migrant dead in Rio Bravo, Texas, on Wednesday after the officer claimed he came under attack, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said, according to CNN.
The agency said the border agent was responding to reported illegal activity near a culvert and found a group of undocumented immigrants in the border town some 170 miles south of San Antonio, the broadcaster reported.
USA Today said the group was near the Rio Grande River, which is the border between Texas and Mexico.
When the agent tried to capture the group, the agency said he was attacked with blunt objects, CNN wrote. In response, the agent fired at least one shot, killing the woman, officials said, per the network.
Bystanders reportedly posted a video on Facebook in connection with the shooting, CNN reported.
"Why are you mistreating them? Why are you mistreating them? Why did you (shoot) at the girl? You killed her," one woman could be heard yelling on the video, according to CNN. "He killed the girl. She's laying there and she's dead."
USA Today said the group escaped but three suspects believed to be part of the group were later arrested. The arrested suspects and the woman who died have not been identified, along with the border agent involved in the shooting.
"The dangers of crossing this border are multifaceted," Border Patrol Rio Grande Valley sector chief Manuel Padilla Jr. told the Los Angeles Times. "It's not just coming up through Central America and Mexico. There's a lot that happens afterward."
John Michael Torres, a spokesman of the migrant advocacy group La Union Del Pueblo Entero, complained that the agency is not being held accountable for their use of deadly force against illegal immigrants, the Times reported.
"The ongoing tragedy of death at the hands of border agents is something border communities know too well," Torres told the Times. "Border Patrol shrugs off meaningful reforms that could bring a measure of accountability and transparency to the agency, reforms that could curb this pattern of deadly force.
"Instead, the agency invents numbers showing an increase of assaults on border agents when in reality such assaults are down. Border crossings are at near-historic lows, yet Border Patrol use of deadly force persists," he continued.
Customs and Border Protection said, according to USA Today, that in fiscal year 2012 there were 55 incidents were agents used firearms. That number has dropped to 17 incidents last fiscal year, the newspaper added.
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