Photo via Border Patrol

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

Border Patrol agents were attacked and hospitalized by migrants trying to enter the country illegally in Laredo, Texas, on New Year’s Eve.

The National Border Patrol Council said an undisclosed number of agents sustained injuries ranging from broken bones and lacerations, and eight people were detained, KENS5-TV reports.

It’s unclear whether the attacks were related to an hours-long gun battle a day earlier between cartel members and Tamaulipas State Police in Nuevo Laredo. The shootout prompted Webb County Sheriff Martin Cuellar to warn residents on Facebooks to avoid crossing the border in to Mexico.

Border Patrol Agent Rogelio Martinez was found dead at the bottom of a ravine in west Texas.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

Although President Trump quickly declared that two Border Patrol agents were brutally beaten by rocks in Texas last month, a local sheriff says the pair may have been struck by a tractor-trailer.

Culberson County Sheriff Oscar Carrillo told the Dallas Morning News he believes a tractor-trailer may have accidentally hit them.

Rogelio Martinez, 36, and his partner were found in a ravine along a treacherous stretch of land near Van Horn in West Texas, about 30 miles from the Mexican border.

Martinez died soon after following traumatic head injuries and broken memories. His partner, who has yet to be identified, reportedly can’t remember what happened and remains hospitalized.

“From the beginning we were radioed to assist in the incident as an injury, not an assault,” Carrillo said. “That’s the way it was communicated to us.”

A day after the injuries were reported, Trump tweeted, “Border Patrol Officer killed at Southern Border, another badly hurt. We will seek out and bring to justice those responsible. We will, and must, build the Wall!”

Trump added that the surviving agent had been “badly beaten.”

The union that represents Border Patrol agents, the National Border Patrol Council, suggested the agents were attacked.

But local authorities and the FBI are more skeptical.

The FBI is now offering a $45,000 reward for information leading to what caused the injuries and death.  

Sen. Rand Paul

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

The FBI is now assisting local police investigating a brutal assault that left Sen. Rand Paul with five broken ribs, lung contusions and injuries to his face on the lawn of his Kentucky home.

The violent attack was prompted by a dispute between the Republican senator and his neighbor over landscaping, the New York Times reports. 

Authorities said Paul was attacked while mowing his lawn and wearing ear plugs.

“Rand never saw him coming or heard him coming,” according to the senator’s friend, Robert Porter, who visited Paul on Saturday.

The neighbor, Rene Albert Boucher, 59, was charged with one count of fourth-degree assault.

By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com

The FBI said it is investigating the stabbing of a Flint airport police officer at Bishop International Airport in Flint as an act of terrorism, and identified the attacker as Amor M. Ftouhi, 49, of Quebec, Canada.

Authorities said Ftouhi referenced killings in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan and yelled “Allahu Akbar,” while stabbing airport officer, Lt. Jeff Neville, in the neck and back. He is listed in stable condition.

One local law enforcement officer said there was no immediate indication that the suspect had ties to Flint.

An affidavit by FBI agent Thomas Sondgeroth said that the suspect yelled “Allahu Akbar,” pulled out a knife and stabbed the officer in the neck.

The affidavit went on to say:

After stabbing the police officer, Ftouhi continued to yell “Allah” several times. He further exclaimed something similar to, “you have killed people in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and we are all going to die.” The law enforcement officer was able to subdue Ftouhi, who asked the officer why he did not kill him.

Amor M. Ftouhi (Facebook photo)

“I have also spoken with another FBI agent who reviewed surveillance video of the airport premises, including the location of the stabbing,” the FBI agent wrote in the affidavit. “The agent informed me that at approximately 8:52 a.m., Ftouhi entered the first level of Bishop International Airport carrying a red duffle and a dark satchel bag. At approximately 9:10, Ftouhi went up an escalator to the second level of the airport. At the top of the escalator, Ftouhi turned left to go to a restaurant. At approximately 9:37:56, Ftouhi left the restaurant carrying both bags.

“Ftouhi entered a second-floor restroom at 9:38:15 and left at approximately 9:38:43 without either bag. At 9:38:48, Ftouhi attacked the officer and was subdued by other law enforcement shortly after.”

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

Border Patrol agents have been attacked more viciously and frequently than previous periods over the past few months.

The agency reported that its agents were assaulted nearly 160 times between October and November, and one agent was nearly maimed, Frontiers reports. 

In December, the level of violence increased, and one agent was nearly maimed. In southern Arizona, one agent was shot at in Cochise County, another nearly lost his dumb while making an arrest, and others were forced to fight to keep their weapons from being used against them, Border Patrol union President Art Del Cueto said.

“It was a back-and-forth fight. The agent almost got his thumb completely gnawed off. The illegal alien fought him, two other agents showed up and he got in a fight with the other two agents.”

Border Patrol, which declined to provide details of the agent who nearly lost his thumb. The agency released this statement:

“On Dec. 24, a Tucson Sector Border Patrol agent attempted to arrest a suspected illegal immigrant in a remote area near Lukeville, Arizona, when the suspect became assaultive toward the agent. Two more agents responded to assist and the suspect was arrested. All three agents and the suspect were transported to a local hospital, treated and released. The suspect is being held on immigration violations. Assault charges are pending the outcome of the investigation.”

The agent is still injured.

“I’ve talked with him, I’ve heard he has some damage still. He doesn’t have feeling in his thumb yet but from speaking to the agent, the agent did explain he pretty much gnawed his finger down to the bone. The agent tried pulling his finger from his mouth and the guy just clamped down tighter,” Del Cueto said.

Abdul Razak Ali Artan

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

The Ohio State University student who attacked people with his car and a knife Monday may have been inspired by ISIS, the FBI said Wednesday.

The attack injured 11 people before a university police officer shot and killed Abdul Razak Ali Artan.

Law enforcement officials believe Artan was radicalized online by radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, the Washington Post reports. 

“It certainly appears that he was radicalized online,” said Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who was briefed by law enforcement officials Wednesday. Shortly before the attack, Artan referred to Awlaki as “our hero” in a post on Facebook, U.S. officials said. Awlaki was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen in 2011. He also expressed disdain for more moderate Islamic clerics, urging people to ignore “celebrity scholars who have sold their deen (religion).”

The FBI interviewed dozens of Artan’s family members, neighbors and co-workers and analyzed electronic devices and social media accounts used by the college junior.

Special Agent in Charge Angela Byers said investigators were “not aware of anyone else being involved in the planning of this attack,” but they were still patching together a timeline of the attack.

On the morning of the attack, Artan purchased a knife, Columbus police said.

Paul Ciancia

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

A 26-year-old man accused of using a semi-automatic rifle to kill a TSA officer and wound three others at Los Angeles International Airport is expected to plead guilty Tuesday.

Paul Ciancia plans to plead guilty to 11 felony counts stemming from the November 2013 attacks in Terminal 3 at LAX, CBSLA.com reports. 

The pleas are part of a deal with prosecutors that will keep Ciancia from facing the death penalty. Instead, he is expected to be sentenced to a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

Federal authorities said Ciancia shot TSA Officer Gerardo Hernandez 12 times at a passenger ID checkpoint. Three other TSA officers were injured.

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By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

An undercover FBI agent was on the scene when two ISIS supporters opened fire at a “Draw Muhammad” contest in a Dallas suburb, according to newly filed court documents.

The shooting on May 3, 2015, involved two men who used assault rifles to attack people at a convention center in Garland, Texas, where a “First Annual Muhammad Art Exhibit and Contest” was taking place, The Hill reports. 

Hour before the attack, the FBI warned local police of one of the shooters, Elton Simpson, whom the bureau had spent years tracking.

It’s unclear why the FBI didn’t intervene before the attack.