A Coast Guard admiral said an officer killed Sunday when his boat was rammed by suspected smugglers near Santa Cruz Island died "protecting our nation." In a statement read by a spokesman at a news conference Sunday afternoon, Coast Guard Adm. Robert J. Papp said: "We are deeply saddened by the loss of our shipmate."The Guard Guard released few details about the incident, but a spokesman vowed that "all individuals involved in this illegal action [will be] brought to justice."
The officer was identified as Executive Petty Officer Terrell Horne.
Horne was aboard a small Coast Guard craft and was investigating a boat that was operating without any lights, raising suspicion. The other boat was a "panga," an open-hulled boat that is "the choice of smugglers operating off the coast of California," said Coast Guard spokesman Adam Eggers.
The boat rammed the Coast Guard vessel when it approached, knocking two Coast Guard members into the water. When Horne was pulled out of the water it was determined that he had suffered a traumatic head injury and died. The other Coast Guard member had minor injuries.
An official at the Port of Hueneme told the Ventura County Star that two suspects were detained in the incident.
More:
According to sources, the incident took place early this morning, at approximately 1 a.m., when the Coast Guard intercepted two boats -- a pleasure craft and a panga boat, which is a small, fast launch -- near San Clemente Island, in Santa Barbara County.
The Coast Guard, according to initial reports, took the pleasure craft into custody and detained two occupants.
The Coast Guard cutter crew then lowered their smaller boat into the water in order to take custody of the individuals on the panga boat.
At that point the operation turned deadly.
As the Coast Guard small craft approached the panga, the driver of the panga rammed it and actually drove over the top of the boat, striking two agents and killing one of them.
Other members of the Coast Guard team took the occupants of the panga into custody, making for a total of four suspects in custody -- two from the pleasure craft and two from the panga.
Sources said that authorities believed that two additional suspects were dropped off on Santa Cruz Island just before the interception of the two boats. The Santa Barbara Sheriffs SWAT team was working with the U.S. Border Patrol today, searching Santa Cruz Island for additional suspects.
The panga was operated by Mexican nationals, and the cargo was marijuana, law enforcement sources said.