Member of cultlike Zizian group faces new murder charge in border patrol agent’s death

Aug. 14, 2025:

CUMBERLAND, Md. (AP) — A woman accused of killing a U.S. Border Patrol agent during a Vermont traffic stop in January 2025 has been indicted on murder and other new charges that make her eligible for the death penalty.

Teresa Youngblut, 21, of Washington state, is a member of the Zizians, a cultlike group of radical computer scientists focused on veganism, gender identity and artificial intelligence who have been linked to six killings in three states. She’s accused of fatally shooting agent David Maland on Jan. 20, 2025, the same day President Donald Trump was inaugurated and signed a sweeping executive order lifting the moratorium on federal executions.

Youngblut initially was charged with using a deadly weapon against law enforcement and discharging a firearm during an assault with a deadly weapon.

But the Trump administration signaled early on that more serious charges were coming. In February, Attorney General Pam Bondi mentioned Maland’s death as an example in saying she expects federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in cases involving the murder of law enforcement officers.

Prosecutors have not yet confirmed that they will seek the death penalty based on the new charges made public Thursday, but Youngblut’s attorneys recently said they had been given a July 28 deadline to offer preliminary evidence about why she should be spared such a punishment. They asked a judge last month to delay that deadline until January, but the judge declined.

At the time of the shooting, authorities had been watching Youngblut and her companion, Felix Bauckholt, for several days after a Vermont hotel employee reported seeing them carrying guns and wearing black tactical gear. She’s accused of opening fire on border agents who pulled the car over on Interstate 91. An agent fired back, killing Bauckholt and wounding Youngblut.

The pair were among the followers of Jack LaSota, a transgender woman also known as Ziz whose online writing attracted young, highly intelligent computer scientists who shared anarchist beliefs. Members of the group have been tied to the death of one of their own during an attack on a California landlord in 2022, the landlord’s subsequent killing earlier this year, and the deaths of a Pennsylvania couple in between.

LaSota and two others face weapons and drug charges in Maryland, where they were arrested in February, while LaSota faces additional federal charges of being an armed fugitive. Maximilian Snyder, who is charged with killing the landlord in California, had applied for a marriage license with Youngblut. Michelle Zajko, whose parents were killed in Pennsylvania, was arrested with LaSota in Maryland, and has been charged with providing weapons to Youngblut in Vermont.

Vermont abolished its state death penalty in 1972. The last person sentenced to death in the state on federal charges was Donald Fell, who was convicted in 2005 of abducting and killing a supermarket worker five years earlier. But the conviction and sentence were later thrown out because of juror misconduct, and in 2018, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.

February 22, 2025:

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A U.S. Border Patrol agent whose killing in Vermont during a traffic stop near the Canadian border has been tied to a cultlike group is scheduled to be buried with full military honors Saturday (Feb. 22, 2025) at a national cemetery.

David Maland, 44, died Jan. 20 during the stop on Interstate 91 in Conventry, about 20 miles (30 kilometers) south of the border with Canada. The driver of the stopped car is accused of opening fire on Maland and other agents, sparking a shootout that left her companion dead. Both belonged to a group called the Zizians that may be linked to six deaths in three states, investigators said.

Maland, who went by Chris, is to be buried at Fort Snelling National Cemetery in Minneapolis. A native of Minnesota, he served in the Air Force and the State Department before joining the Border Patrol.

“Chris was a loving son, brother, uncle, fiance and dedicated colleague,” his family said in a statement released late Friday. “His kind heart and fighting soul made him a warm and inviting person to be around and pillar of strength for his country.

“We love you, Chris. You’ll live in our hearts forever.”

In the Air Force, Maland was responsible for protecting bases, personnel and property. In 2001, he worked security duty at the Pentagon during the Sept. 11 attacks, his family said.

He received the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, among other honors, according to his obituary.

Maland was a K-9 handler at the State Department and at his Border Patrol job in Vermont. He first joined the Border Patrol in Texas.

“He will be remembered for his courage and commitment to protecting fellow Americans,” Minnesota state Rep. Krista Knudsen, Maland’s cousin, said on the House floor last month. “He is also a person who served faithfully with honor and bravery. He always put his service above himself.”

February 18, 2025:

CUMBERLAND, Md. (AP) — The leader of a cultlike group known as the Zizians that is linked to six killings has been ordered held without bail, as were two others. Thirty-four-year-old Jack LaSota of Berkeley, California, 32-year-old Michelle Zajko of Media, Pennsylvania, and 26-year-old Daniel Blank of Sacramento, California, appeared in court via video Tuesday (Feb. 18, 2025). They face charges including trespassing, obstructing and hindering and possession of a handgun in a vehicle. Zajko and Blank did not directly address the charges against them during the hearing or through their attorney, but LaSota denied wrongdoing. Members of their group have been tied to the killing of U.S. Border Patrol Agent David Maland near the Canadian border in January.

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CUMBERLAND, Md. (AP) — The leader of a cultlike group connected to six killings in three states was ordered held without bail Tuesday (Feb. 18, 2025) in Maryland, where she faces trespassing and other charges.

Jack LaSota, 34, of Berkeley, California, and two others arrested with her on Sunday appeared via videoconference for bail hearings in Allegany District Court. A judge ordered all three held without bail, describing them as dangerous flight risks.

Allegany County State’s Attorney James Elliott said LaSota has faked her own death in the past and “appears to be the leader of an extremist group known as Zizians” that has been linked to multiple deaths.

But LaSota, who is known online as Ziz, asked for pretrial release, saying she was homeless with no means of traveling. Speaking haltingly, she also requested a vegan diet and said she was “in a mild state of delirium” due to lack of food.

“I haven’t done anything wrong,” she told the judge.

Members the group, referred to by others as Zizians, have been tied to the death of a woman during an attack on a California landlord in November 2022, the landlord’s subsequent slaying in January, and the deaths of a Pennsylvania couple in between. Most recently, the group has been linked to a highway shootout in Vermont that left a U.S. Border Patrol agent and a car passenger dead.

The Pennsylvania victims were the parents of Michelle Zajko, who was arrested with LaSota and Daniel Blank. All three were charged with trespassing and obstructing law enforcement after a Frostburg, Maryland, resident told police that three “suspicious” people had parked two box trucks on his property and asked to camp there for a month. Zajko, 32, of Media, Pennsylvania, also was charged with resisting arrest and carrying a handgun; LaSota was charged with having a gun in a vehicle.

They were dressed in black and two wore gun belts holding ammunition, according to police. Officers found a rifle in the back of one truck and a handgun on the front floorboard. Zajko, who refused to put her hands behind her back and was taken to the ground, also was carrying a handgun, police said.

Elliott, the prosecutor, said two other guns Zajko purchased were recovered in connection with the Jan. 20 shooting death of Border Patrol Agent Chris Maland, 44, following a traffic stop in Coventry, Vermont. Felix Bauckholt, a passenger in the car, also died, and the driver, Teresa Youngblut, has pleaded not guilty to federal firearms charges.

Officials have said the guns they were carrying were bought by a person of interest in the Dec. 31, 2022, deaths of Richard and Rita Zajko in Chester Heights, Pennsylvania, and that Youngblut had been in close contact with a person of interest in a homicide in Vallejo, California.

Maximilian Snyder, who applied for a marriage license with Youngblut in November, is charged with the Jan. 17 stabbing death of Curtis Lind, a Vallejo landlord who had survived an earlier attack by members of the Zizian group and was set to testify against them.

Officials have offered few details of the cross-country investigation, but Associated Press interviews and a review of court records and online postings tell the story of how a group of young, highly intelligent computer scientists, most of them in their 20s and 30s, met online, shared anarchist beliefs, and became increasingly violent.

Their goals aren’t clear, but online writings included topics such as radical veganism, gender identity and artificial intelligence. At the middle of it all is LaSota, a transgender woman who published a dark and sometimes violent blog under the name Ziz.

Rebecca Francoeur-Breeden, a public defender representing LaSota, said she had spoken with LaSota’s mother twice since the arrest. The attorney noted LaSota’s educational achievements, including a degree in computer engineering.

“This is a very, very bright person we’re dealing with,” she said.

Francouer-Breeden also represented Zajko and Blank, 26, of Sacramento, California. Zajko and Blank did not directly address the charges against them during the hearing or through their attorney, who argued Zajko should be released before trial, saying she had a master’s degree and an impressive list of internships.

Francouer-Breeden described Blank as a “brilliant young man” with serious mental health concerns and said he was listed as a missing or endangered person before his arrest. Blank’s stepfather also addressed the judge, saying he hadn’t seen Blank in two years but was willing to get him housing locally to help ensure he shows up for court.

Pennsylvania state police records describe Blank as Zajko’s housemate in Vermont. In January 2023, police investigating the shooting deaths of Zajko’s parents detained both LaSota and Blank at a hotel where Zajko was staying. Blank was not charged. LaSota was charged with obstructing law enforcement and disorderly conduct.

February 17, 2025:

BOSTON (AP) — The apparent leader of a cultlike group known as the Zizians has been arrested in Maryland along with another member of the group, Maryland State Police said Monday (Feb.17, 2025).

Jack Lasota, 34, was arrested Sunday along with Michelle Zajko, 33, of Media, Pennsylvania. They face multiple charges including trespassing, obstructing and hindering and possession of a handgun in the vehicle.

A bail hearing for the the two is scheduled for 11 a.m. Tuesday at Allegany District Court.

The Zizians have been tied to the killing of U.S. Border Patrol Agent David Maland near the Canadian border in January and five other homicides in Vermont, Pennsylvania and California.

Maland, 44, was killed in a Jan. 20 shootout following a traffic stop in Coventry, Vermont, a small town about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from the Canadian border.

Officials have offered few details of the cross-country investigation, which broke open after the Jan. 20 shooting death of Maland. Associated Press interviews and a review of court records and online postings tell the story of how a group of young, highly intelligent computer scientists, most of them in their 20s and 30s, met online, shared anarchist beliefs, and became increasingly violent.

Their goals aren’t clear, but online writings span topics from radical veganism and gender identity to artificial intelligence.

At the middle of it all is “Ziz,” who appears to be the leader of the strange group members who called themselves “Zizians.” She has been seen near multiple crime scenes and has connections to various suspects.

LaSota published a dark and sometimes violent blog under the name Ziz and, in one section, described her theory that the two hemispheres of the brain could hold separate values and genders and “often desire to kill each other.”

LaSota, who used she/her pronouns, and in her writings says she is a transgender woman, railed against perceived enemies, including so-called rationalist groups, which operate mostly online and seek to understand human cognition through reason and knowledge. Some are concerned with the potential dangers of artificial intelligence.

LaSota, 34, has not responded to multiple Associated Press emails in recent weeks, and her attorney Daniel McGarrigle declined to comment when asked whether she is connected to any of the deaths. Before her weekend arrest, she missed court appearances in two states, and bench warrants have been issued for her arrest.

Reached on Monday, McGarrigle would only confirm that he has represented LaSota and wouldn’t confirm her arrest or any details of the latest case.

February 15, 2025:

COVENTRY, Vt. (AP) — A traffic stop in Vermont has cracked open a cultlike group called Zizians linked to six deaths in three states. Officials have offered few details about their cross-country investigation, but police and court records, interviews and online postings point to a small group of young computer scientists portrayed as highly intelligent and increasingly violent. Their goals aren’t clear, but online writings span topics from radical veganism and gender identity to artificial intelligence. The dead include Border Patrol Agent David Maland, two members of the group, the parents of another member and a California landlord who tried to evict some of them.

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COVENTRY, Vt. (AP) — In the wooded outskirts of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, a perplexed landlord noticed odd sights at two of his rental properties.

Tenants wore long black coats and parked box trucks outside the duplexes. They ran an electrical cord from one box truck into one of the condos, and kept a stretcher inside another.

A neighbor remembers similarly dressed figures walking around at night holding hands. They never spoke a word.

By the time the FBI searched the property last week, one of the most recent tenants had been killed in a shootout with U.S. Border Patrol agents in Vermont, and a second was under arrest. A third, a shadowy figure known online as “Ziz,” remains missing after authorities linked their cultlike group to six deaths in three states.

Officials have offered few details of the cross-country investigation, which broke open after the Jan. 20 shooting death of a Border Patrol trooper in Vermont during a traffic stop. Associated Press interviews and a review of court records and online postings tell the story of how a group of young, highly intelligent computer scientists, most of them in their 20s and 30s, met online, shared anarchist beliefs, and became increasingly violent.

Their goals aren’t clear, but online writings span topics from radical veganism and gender identity to artificial intelligence.

At the middle of it all is “Ziz,” who appears to be the leader of the strange group, who called themselves “Zizians.” She has been seen near multiple crime scenes and has connections to various suspects.

She was even declared dead for a time, before reappearing amid more violence.

Who is Ziz?

Jack LaSota moved to the San Francisco Bay area after earning a computer science degree from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2013 and interning at NASA, according to a profile on a hiring site for programmers, coders and other freelance workers. NASA officials did not respond to a request to confirm LaSota’s internship, but a Jack LaSota is listed on a website about past interns.

In 2016, she began publishing a dark and rambling blog under the name Ziz, describing her theory that the two hemispheres of the brain could hold separate values and genders and “often desire to kill each other.”

LaSota used she/her pronouns, and in her writings says she is a transgender woman. She railed against perceived enemies, including so-called rationalist groups, which operate mostly online and seek to understand human cognition through reason and knowledge. Some are concerned with the potential dangers of artificial intelligence.

LaSota began promoting an extreme mix of rationalism, ethical veganism, anarchism and other value systems, said Jessica Taylor, an AI researcher who met LaSota both in person and online through the rationalist community and knew her as Ziz.

When LaSota left the rationalists behind, she took with her a group of “extremely vulnerable and isolated” followers, Anna Salamon, executive director of the Center for Applied Rationality, told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Taylor said Ziz adherents use the rationalist ideology as a reason to commit violence. “Stuff like, thinking it’s reasonable to avoid paying rent and defend oneself from being evicted,” she said.

Poulomi Saha, a professor who has studied cults, said LaSota’s beliefs and writings may have made readers feel seen, an often central factor in the formation of groups commonly labeled cults. That’s especially true in the era of online communities, in which it’s easier for marginalized people to seek fellow believers.

“For the person who feels hailed by that blog post, there is likely to be a kind of dual experience,” said Saha, co-director of the program in critical theory at the University of California, Berkeley. “One where they feel like ‘I have been saying this, or thinking this, all along, and no one has believed me.’”

LaSota, 34, has not responded to multiple Associated Press emails in recent weeks, and her attorney Daniel McGarrigle declined to comment when asked whether she is connected to any of the deaths. She has missed court appearances in two states, and bench warrants have been issued for her arrest. Associated Press reporters have left numerous phone and e-mail messages with LaSota’s family and received no response.

Ziz and followers’ first run-in with the law

In November 2019, LaSota was arrested along with several other people at a protest outside a Northern California retreat center where the Center for Applied Rationality was holding an event. Sheriff’s deputies called in a SWAT team and armored vehicle after the mask-wearing group blocked the property’s exits and handed out fliers railing against the rationalist organization. The group said they were protesting sexual misconduct inside the rationalist group.

The case against LaSota, Emma Borhanian, 31, Gwen Danielson and Alexander Leatham, 29, was pending in August 2022 when the U.S. Coast Guard responded to a report that LaSota had fallen out of a boat in San Francisco Bay. Her body wasn’t found, but her mother confirmed the death and an obituary was published.

It wasn’t long before Ziz surfaced again.

A landlord is attacked in California

By the autumn of 2022, LaSota had moved with other group members, including Borhanian and Leatham, into vans and box trucks on property owned by Curtis Lind in Vallejo, about 30 miles north of San Francisco.

“Emma’s van was amazing,” said someone who knew Borhanian. “It had a refrigerator and freezer and microwave. It was truly a work of art.”

The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of fears for her safety, described Borhanian as a kind and loving young woman so smart that she worked at Google while in college. Google did not respond to an inquiry about Borhanian’s employment there.

Prosecutors say she was among those who attacked Lind on Nov. 13 when he tried to evict the group for not paying rent.

Impaled by a sword and partially blinded, Lind fought back, fatally shooting Borhanian. Concluding that Lind acted in self-defense, officials charged Leatham and Suri Dao, 23, with murder in Borhanian’s death, as well as attempted murder of Lind.

A person reached by an Associated Press reporter at a phone number listed for Alex Leatham’s father declined to comment. Attempts to reach family members for Dao were not successful.

Police believe LaSota was at the scene of the crime, but she was not arrested.

An elderly couple is killed in Pennsylvania

On New Year’s Eve of 2022, a couple was shot and killed in their home in Chester Heights, Pennsylvania.

A doorbell camera captured audio and video of a car pulling up to the home of Richard Zajko, 71, and his wife, Rita, 69. A voice shouts “Mom!” and another voice exclaims, “Oh my God! Oh, God, God!” according to a Pennsylvania state police affidavit. Police found the couple shot in the head in an upstairs bedroom after they failed to show up to take care of Rita’s mother.

Police questioned the couple’s daughter, Michelle, at her home in Vermont, and a few weeks later, took her into custody at a Pennsylvania hotel. She wasn’t arrested or charged with anything. LaSota was at the hotel, too, and was arrested after refusing to cooperate with officers, and charged with obstructing law enforcement and disorderly conduct.

Six months later, LaSota was released on bail but stopped showing up for court.

LaSota’s attorney, Daniel McGarrigle, said last month his client was “wholly and unequivocally innocent of the charges filed in this case.”

The landlord in California is found dead

Meanwhile, the case regarding the landlord in California was headed to trial. The landlord, who was 82, was the only eyewitness, and prosecutors wanted to hurry along the proceedings.

But on Jan. 17, Lind’s throat was cut, and he died, not far from where he had survived the earlier attack.

Maximilian Snyder, 22, who is charged with murder, appeared in court Feb. 6, only long enough to request a new attorney. It’s not clear how he was identified as a suspect; he has ties to a woman who just days later would be involved in a shootout.

Snyder is listed as in custody in the Solano County Jail in California. Attempts to reach family members of Snyder were not successful.

A Border Patrol agent dies in a shootout Vermont

On. Jan 20, in Vermont, U.S. Border Patrol agents stopped a vehicle carrying two people connected to the Ziz group. A hotel worker had called authorities after seeing one of them, Teresa Youngblut, with a gun.

Youngblut was driving the car when it was pulled over on Jan. 20, and authorities say she quickly opened fire on officers. The passenger, Felix Bauckholt, a German national who is also listed in court documents as Ophelia, died, along with the border patrol agent, David Maland.

Youngblut was wounded and arrested and has pleaded not guilty to firearms charges.

Authorities who searched the car found a ballistic helmet, night-vision goggles, respirators and ammunition, the FBI said. They also found two-way radios and used shooting range targets.

Youngblut applied for a marriage license with Snyder, the man accused of murdering the elderly landlord. He was a childhood friend; it was unclear if they were married. Authorities say the gun she was carrying was purchased by a person of interest in the Zajko killings.

The last sighting of Ziz

Youngblut and Bauckholt had been living at the two condos in North Carolina, where the landlord and neighbors now say they saw the odd behavior.

LaSota also had been living there as recently as this winter, said the landlord, who reviewed LaSota’s 2019 police booking photo. He spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because he was concerned for his safety.

Expressing similar concerns, a neighbor who lived in the other side of Bauckholt’s duplex until September 2023 recalled seeing three people wearing long black robes and tactical clothes.

“They rarely came out during the day but would walk around the neighborhood and in the woods at night,” the former neighbor said, who also spoke only on condition of anonymity because of concerns for their safety. “Sometimes all three of them would go for a walk and they all held hands. They seemed to care for each other a great deal.”

January 27, 2025:

COVENTRY, Vt. (AP) — A Washington state woman charged in connection with the fatal shooting of a U.S. border patrol agent in Vermont had been in frequent contact with someone whom authorities have linked to homicides in Pennsylvania and California, a federal prosecutor said in court documents Monday (Jan. 27, 2025).

Teresa Youngblut, 21, faces two weapons charges in connection with the death of Border Patrol Agent David Maland, 44, who died Jan. 20 during the shootout in Coventry, a small town about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from the Canadian border. She had been traveling with Felix Bauckholt, a German citizen who also was killed, and the pair had been under surveillance for several days.

In a motion filed Monday, U.S. Attorney Michael Drescher said Youngblut should be detained as the case proceeds due to the nature of the crime, the weight of evidence against her, her lack of ties to Vermont, and the danger she poses to the community.

According to the motion, the gun used by Youngblut and one that Bauckholt was carrying were purchased by a third person in Vermont last February. The buyer is a person of interest on a double homicide investigation in Pennsylvania, Drescher said.

And both Youngblut and the buyer “are acquainted with and have been in frequent contact with” someone who was detained during that investigation and who also is a person of interest in a homicide investigation in Vallejo, California, the motion said.

“The defendant’s possession and use of a firearm, combined with her itinerary and associations, suggests she poses a current and substantial danger to the community that could not be addressed by a condition or a combination of conditions of pretrial release,” the prosecutor wrote.

Youngblut was scheduled to appear in federal court Monday. The public defender assigned to represent Youngblut in U.S. District Court in Burlington did not return emails seeking comment. A spokesperson for the U. S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Vermont declined to comment.

According to an FBI affidavit, a border agent pulled over Youngblut and Bauckholt on Interstate 91 to conduct an immigration inspection. At the time, Bauckholt appeared to have an expired visa, according to a Department of Homeland Security database, but investigators later confirmed that his visa was current, the FBI said.

Youngblut, who had been driving Bauckholt’s car, got out and opened fire on Maland and other officers without warning, the FBI alleges. Bauckholt tried to draw a gun but was shot, the affidavit states.

At least one border agent fired on Youngblut and Bauckholt, but authorities haven’t specified whose bullets hit whom.

“This investigation remains very active, and the legal process continues,” FBI spokeswoman Sarah Ruane said in a statement over the weekend.

Investigators had been performing “periodic surveillance” of Youngblut and Bauckholt since Jan. 14 after an employee at a hotel where they were staying reported concerns after seeing Youngblut carrying a gun and she and Bauckholt wearing black tactical gear, according to the affidavit. Investigators tried to question the duo, who said they were in the area looking to buy property but declined to have an extended conversation, the FBI said.

During a search of the car after the shootout, authorities found cellphones wrapped in foil, a ballistic helmet, night-vision goggles, respirators and ammunition, the FBI said. They also found a package of shooting range targets, including some that had been used, two-way radios, about a dozen “electronic devices,” travel and lodging information for multiple states, and an apparent journal.

In May, Youngblut’s parents reported to Seattle police that she was missing, according to a police report. In the account, first reported by The Seattle Times, they said she had left home with duffel bags full of personal belongings, including her passport and medical records.

The parents said her behavior had changed and that she had been lying about where she was going and who she was seeing. They said she also had broken off contact with friends and changed her phone number. The parents said they were concerned she was being “forced to take these actions or that she may be in a controlling relationship.”

A Teresa Youngblut took out a marriage license to a man who was not Bauckholt in November, according to a search of records in Washington state’s King County.

A man reached at a phone listing for Youngblut’s family Friday identified himself as Youngblut’s grandfather and declined to comment. No one answered the door at homes in Seattle and Redmond, Washington, associated with Youngblut’s name, and neighbors declined to comment.

Bauckholt graduated with an honors degree in mathematics from Waterloo University in Canada in 2018, according to online records. He competed and won honors in computer programming competitions and held an office in the university’s computer science club. He had received a scholarship and was one of several students who had won medals at international olympiads for either mathematics or informatics, according to a school news release from 2015.

A now-deleted LinkedIn profile for a Felix Bauckholt said he had been working as a quantitative trader for a financial firm based in New York since October 2021. An email was sent to the firm seeking confirmation.

January 22, 2025:

This story was first published on Jan. 22, 2025. It was updated on Jan. 23, 2025, to correct data on Border Patrol agent killings. David Maland was the first Border Patrol agent to be killed by gunfire in the line of duty since Javier Vega Jr. in 2014, but agents were also killed by other means.

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COVENTRY, Vt. (AP) — A U.S. Border Patrol agent who was killed in Vermont during a traffic stop near the Canadian border was a military veteran who worked security duty at the Pentagon during the Sept. 11 attacks, his family said.

“He was a devoted agent who served with honor and bravery,” a family statement provided to The Associated Press late Tuesday said. “He had a tremendous respect and pride for the work he did; he truly embodied service over self.”

Agent David Maland, 44, was killed Monday afternoon following a traffic stop, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said in a statement. A German national in the country on what the FBI called a current visa was killed and an injured suspect was taken into custody and is being treated at a local hospital.

The violence temporarily closed part of Interstate 91 about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from Canada in Coventry, part of the small, 27,000-resident community of Orleans County in the Northeast Kingdom section of Vermont that straddles the international border.

Maland had many chances for promotion but turned them down to stay in the field, said his cousin, Minnesota state Rep. Krista Knudsen. She paid tribute to the Minnesota native, who went by Chris, on the House floor Wednesday before lawmakers observed a moment of silence.

“He will be remembered for his courage and commitment to protecting fellow Americans,” said Knudsen, a Republican from Lake Shore. “He is also a person who served faithfully with honor and bravery. He always put his service above himself.”

Maland, whom the FBI confirmed was a U.S. Air Force veteran, was killed close to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Newport Station, part of the Swanton Sector that he was assigned to. The sector encompasses Vermont, parts of New York and New Hampshire, and includes 295 miles (475 kilometers) of international boundary with Canada.

The Derby Line–Rock Island Border Crossing is located about 12 miles (19 kilometers) by highway north of Coventry. It’s a major link to the Canadian province of Quebec, giving northern Vermont more French speakers than most of New England.

Maland’s family said his career spanned nine years in the military and 15 in the federal government. On Sept. 11, 2001, his duty station was the Pentagon, and when news of the terrorist attacks broke, he was sent to guard an undersecretary to one of the branches of the military for several days at a bunker at the Joint Base-Anacostia Bolling, in southeast Washington.

Maland also was a K-9 handler who he served in Texas, near the border with Mexico, before heading to the northern border. His aunt, Joan Maland, said he was about to propose marriage to his partner.

“We are all devastated,” she told AP in a text. She called him an “exceptional person. Incredible man.”

Knudsen said she and Maland both grew up in Fairmont, Minnesota, where he graduated from high school in 1999.

“Chris was an incredible man and will be missed dearly. I am grateful for his service and I know he was very proud of it,” she said. “Our family is heartbroken. He died in the line of duty, serving to protect our country. We will cherish his memories and mourn his sacrifice. Until we meet again, Godspeed, you good and faithful servant.”

Maland was the first Border Patrol agent to be killed in the line of duty by gunfire since Javier Vega Jr. was shot and killed near Santa Monica, Texas, in 2014, according to records provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Vega was initially considered to be off duty at the time of his death, but in 2016 it was re-determined to have been in the line of duty, the agency said.

In 2010, Brian Terry ’s killing exposed the botched federal gun operation known as “Fast and Furious.” Border Patrol Agent Nicholas J. Ivie, of the Brian A. Terry Border Patrol Station, was mortally wounded in the line of duty in a remote area near Bisbee, Arizona, in 2012. Border Patrol Agent Isaac Morales was fatally stabbed while off duty in 2017 in Texas.

January 21, 2025:

COVENTRY, Vt. (AP) — A U.S. Border Patrol agent was fatally shot Monday (Jan. 20, 2025) on a highway in northern Vermont south of the Canadian border, authorities said.

The death was confirmed by the FBI and Benjamine Huffman, acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security in Washington.

In a statement, the FBI said that in addition to the agent, a suspect in the shooting was killed and a second suspect was injured and taken into custody during the encounter on Interstate 91 in Coventry, about 20 miles (32 km) from the Canadian border.

The FBI said there was no ongoing threat to the public.

Huffman said the death occurred “in the line of duty.” The identity of the agent, who was assigned to the U.S. Border Patrol’s Swanton Sector, was not immediately released. The sector encompasses Vermont and parts of New York and New Hampshire.

Federal authorities did not provide additional details but said they would be released as they became available.

A portion of Interstate 91 was closed in both directions for about two hours afterward. The northbound lane reopened just after 5 p.m. Besides federal authorities, the Vermont State Police was also investigating. The FBI responded from the Albany, New York, office.

Huffman said the death would be “swiftly investigated.”

“Every single day, our Border Patrol agents put themselves in harm’s way so that Americans and our homeland are safe and secure,” Huffman said in a statement.

Coventry is close to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Newport Station, part of the Swanton Sector. The area includes 295 miles (475 kilometers) of international boundary with Canada.

In a joint statement, Vermont’s Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Peter Welch and Rep. Becca Balint sent condolences to the agent’s family and said Border Patrol agents “deserve our full support in terms of staffing, pay and working conditions.”

Member of cultlike Zizian group faces new murder charge in border patrol agent’s death

Story Body

Story Body

Who is Ziz?

Ziz and followers’ first run-in with the law

A landlord is attacked in California

An elderly couple is killed in Pennsylvania

The landlord in California is found dead

A Border Patrol agent dies in a shootout Vermont

The last sighting of Ziz

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