US immigration agent killed in California shooting

LOS ANGELES—At least one immigration agent was killed and another injured Thursday in a shooting in a federal building in Long Beach, south of Los Angeles, officials and media reports said.

The exact circumstances of the shooting were not immediately clear, with some media reports saying that two agents had died.

“At approximately 5:30 this afternoon (0130 GMT Friday), two agents with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) were shot inside the agency’s offices,” said an ICE statement.

“One of the agents died at the scene,” while the second was listed in stable condition in hospital, it added, saying ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility, local police and the FBI were investigating.

The local Press Telegram and the LA Times newspapers both reported that two agents had died, and that a third was seriously injured.

The shooting is believed to have started when one agent opened fire on his supervisor over an unspecified dispute, the Times said. As the supervisor lay wounded, another agent tried to subdue the gunman and more gunfire erupted.

Neither ICE nor FBI spokesmen immediately responded to requests for confirmation of the death toll and further details of the incident.