Arrest Made in Connection With Shooting Death of Border Patrol Agent

A 21-year-old woman was arrested and charged on Friday with assaulting federal law enforcement officers with a deadly weapon, after the shooting death on Monday of a U.S. Border Patrol agent on Interstate 91 near the Canadian border.The woman, Teresa Youngblut, was driving south on Interstate 91 in Coventry, Vt., at about 3 p.m. on Monday when Border Patrol agents pulled her car over to conduct an immigration inspection, according to case documents. During the stop, agents reported, Ms. Youngblut drew a handgun and fired it at them without warning. At least one agent returned fire.David Maland, a 44-year-old Border Patrol agent who was known as Chris, was injured in the exchange of gunfire and later pronounced dead at North Country Hospital in Newport, Vt. The sole passenger in Ms. Youngblut’s car, Felix Baukholt, a German citizen, was also shot, and later pronounced dead at the scene. Ms. Youngblut was injured by gunfire and hospitalized at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H., where she remained on Friday. Her initial hearing in federal court, on one count of using a deadly weapon while assaulting a Border Patrol agent and one count of using and discharging a firearm during that assault, has not yet been scheduled.She faces a maximum sentence of life in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years if convicted of the charges, according to the office of Acting U.S. Attorney Michael P. Drescher.Ms. Youngblut and Mr. Baukholt had been under surveillance by law enforcement officials for nearly a week before the shooting occurred, according to an F.B.I. affidavit. An employee at a hotel where they were staying in Lyndonville, Vt., had reported concerns about the pair of guests, who had been seen dressed in “all black, tactical-style clothing with protective equipment,” with Ms. Youngblut also carrying what appeared to be a weapon in an exposed-carry holster.Investigators who searched their car after the shooting found tactical gear including a ballistic helmet; a monocular night-vision goggle; a tactical belt with a holster; a magazine loaded with cartridges; 48 rounds of .380-caliber jacketed hollow-point ammunition; two full-face respirators; and two hand-held, two-way radios, according to the affidavit.Border Patrol Agent David Maland, 44, was injured in an exchange of gunfire on Monday and later pronounced dead at North Country Hospital in Newport, Vt.Credit…Joan Maland, via Associated PressThe pair had been observed a few hours before the shooting buying aluminum foil at a Walmart in Newport, Vt., and then using it to wrap various unidentified objects while sitting in a parked Toyota Prius hatchback. After the shooting, agents at the scene found what appeared to be cellphones wrapped in aluminum foil. A bomb squad recovered additional electronics from inside the car, including more cellphones and multiple laptop computers.Ms. Youngblut had a driver’s license issued by the state of Washington; records show her last listed address was in Seattle. According to the F.B.I. affidavit, the traffic stop on Monday was initiated because the registered owner of the Prius, Mr. Baukholt, “appeared to have an expired visa in a Department of Homeland Security database.”Investigators had attempted to question Ms. Youngblut and Mr. Baukholt about their activities a week before the shooting, the affidavit said. But the pair declined to speak at length with law enforcement officials, and said that they were in the area to look at properties for sale. They checked out of the hotel in Lyndonville, Vt., soon after.An “apparent journal” belonging to Ms. Youngblut was also recovered by investigators.The new details revealed on Friday left some residents of the rural area feeling unsettled. The shooting took place in a segment of the northern border known as the Swanton Sector, a vast rural stretch roughly 300 miles long between Quebec, New York and northern New England, that has seen a rapidly increasing number of attempted illegal border crossings, and arrests, in recent years.“It’s shocking, and the whole thing is hard to explain,” said Vincent Illuzzi, the state’s attorney in Essex County, Vt., who lives in the area but is not involved in the investigation. “We need to know why they were here and what they were doing.”Mr. Maland, the border agent, was a Minnesota native and an Air Force veteran, officials said. His family told The Associated Press he had worked as a security officer at the Pentagon at the time of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.“The events leading to this prosecution tragically demonstrate how the men and women of law enforcement regularly put their lives on the line,” Mr. Drescher, the acting U.S. attorney, said in a statement. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office is deeply grateful for those with the courage to do such dangerous work.”