Suspect in border patrol agent slaying

TECATE, Mexico, July 26 (UPI) -- A suspect in custody near Tecate, Mexico, in the death of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Robert Rosas has been identified as Ernesto Parra Valenzuela, police said.

Commissioner Elias Alvarez Hernandez, head of Mexico's federal police in Baja California, told a news conference in Tijuana that Parra Valenzuela, 36, was arrested Friday five hours after Rosas was fatally shot. Hernandez said Parra Valenzuela was in possession of a 9mm pistol when he was picked up near the scene of the shooting, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

Federal agents discovered Rosas, 30, dead near his vehicle not far from the U.S.-Mexico border around 9:15 p.m. Thursday. He was tracking illegal immigrant suspects.

The killing has revived concern for agents' safety in remote areas, the newspaper said.

"Any time a tragedy occurs, it causes introspection whether the tactics are a match for the threats agents are facing," said Border Patrol Agent T.J. Bonner, the agency's union president. "This will cause a top-to-bottom review of tactics being employed, especially in light of the ever-increasing threats facing our Border Patrol agents."