Fast and Furious: Slain Agent’s Family Wants Officials Charged

The family of murdered U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry wants the officials responsible for the program that led to his death to be criminally charged, reports DailyCaller.com.

In a statement the Terry family released on Wednesday, the one-year anniversary of his death, they said they are continuing to push for “the successful arrest and prosecution of all the individuals involved in Brian’s murder.”

Terry was shot and killed in Arizona with weapons found to have been purchased through the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives program Operation Fast and Furious, which allowed guns to be funneled from the United States to drug cartels south of the border.

“However, we will continue to press for answers and accountability from our government,” the family’s statement continued. “Those responsible for such a misguided and fundamentally flawed operation must be held fully responsible for their decisions which allowed so many weapons to flow to the criminal element on both sides of the border. We now believe that if it can be shown that laws were broken, then all those responsible for Fast and Furious should be held criminally liable.”

The Terry family is considering pursuing either a criminal or civil case against officials, said the family’s attorney, Pat McGroder, who also clarified their stance to the Caller: “They’re not pointing the finger, they’re not trying to do the job of the FBI, they’re not trying to do the job of the U.S. Attorney’s Office — they’re simply ensuring that that which Brian stood for, and that is upholding the rule of law, in fact does apply to their family.”

On Wednesday, the House unanimously passed the eponymous Brian A. Terry Memorial Act of 2011, which, if passed by the Senate, will rename the Border Patrol station in Bisbee, Ariz., after the slain agent.

The bill’s main sponsor, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., released this statement after its passage: “While many questions remain unanswered regarding the circumstances surrounding Agent Terry’s death, one thing is certain: He gave his life in defense of our country. This, the one-year anniversary of Agent Terry’s passing, is a reminder of his sacrifice and of the risk his fellow agents take daily on our behalf.”