Off-duty Border Patrol agent shoots, kills man involved in Saturday night fight

Posted Oct 12, 2021

Paul Ingram
TucsonSentinel.com

Paul Ingram/TucsonSentinel.com

Tucson police said an off-duty Border Patrol agent shot and killed a man Saturday night after intervening in a fight between the shooting victim and another person on Tucson's West Side.

Edward Colin Colteaux, 38, died at the scene after he was shot by the unidentified agent, said Sgt. Richard Gradillas, a Tucson Police Department spokesman.

Around 9:48 p.m., TPD officers responded to an emergency radio call that an officer needed immediate assistance, as well a report of a shooting in the 500 block of North Freeway Road near West St. Mary's Road.

Officers arriving at the scene found Colteaux with "obvious signs of gunshot trauma," Gradillas said.

The officers quickly began treating Colteaux with their individual first aid kits. Tucson Fire Department medics arrived, and continued rendering aid, however Colteaux was pronounced dead at the scene, said Gradillas.

Several witnesses told TPD detectives that Colteaux had been in a confrontation with another man, and the agent "intervened in the confrontation as it began to escalate," Gradillas said.

The agent fired his weapon, striking Colteaux and mortally wounding him.

The other man involved in the fight with Colteaux was interviewed by TPD detectives. His identity was not released by police.

The name of the BP agent who shot and killed Colteaux was not released by TPD.

The Border Patrol's Critical Incident Team, a part of the agency's Office of Professional Responsibility, were contacted and responded to the scene. Border Patrol will conduct its own parallel investigation, separate from TPD's, to review whether the agent acted appropriately within the agency's policies, said a Border Patrol spokesman.

TPD said the investigation is ongoing, and no arrests have been made, Gradillas said.