Female FBI Agent Slain; First Woman Killed in Bureau’s History
A female FBI agent wounded during a shootout with a robbery suspect died Saturday, becoming the first woman agent to be killed in the bureau’s 77-year history.
One police officer said the fatal shot might have been fired by a fellow FBI agent.
Herb Hawkins, the FBI special agent in charge of the Phoenix office, said Robin Ahrens was wounded Friday night as agents arrested Kenneth Don Barrett at an apartment complex.
Barrett was wanted in the robbery of an armored car driver in Las Vegas and the shooting of a police officer in Needles, Calif.
Ahrens, 33, had been with the FBI less than a year. She died at 5:45 a.m., police said. No one else was injured.
Sgt. Brad Thiss, a Phoenix police spokesman, said Ahrens was shot by a fellow agent, but FBI officials said they will not know who fired the shot until a ballistics test is run.
Hawkins said Ahrens was the first female agent killed since the FBI was formed in 1908 and the 27th agent killed in the line of duty.
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