American law enforcement officials are different from their Canadian counterparts.
Names of accused killers are only rarely withheld, which makes the tragic shooting death on Monday of U.S. Border Patrol agent David “Chris” Maland just 32 km from the Canadian border all the more a mystery.
The feds have yet to release the triggerman’s name.
So far, we know he is a German national, no age given, and he was in the U.S. on a legal work visa. A female American citizen who was with him is under lock and key at a local hospital.
Maland, 44, was shot to death during a traffic stop on I-91 near the Coventry-Newport town line in Vermont. A small car was pulled over and the killer and his moll allegedly emerged shooting.
The veteran Border agent took a bullet in the neck and died later from his injuries. The male gunman also died.
But there appears to be something more afoot.
In recent years, the number of illegal migrants entering the U.S. over the northern border has soared a staggering 240% from 2022. Most are looking for a better life but some are intent on terrorism and crime.
About 70% of the illegal crossings took place along what the Border Patrol calls the Swanton Sector. This huge swath of wilderness is 475 km and includes upstate New York, New Hampshire and Vermont.
According to WCAX, the man and the unidentified woman had been staying at the Newport City Inn and Suites for five days leading up to the murder. They told locals they were looking to purchase real estate in the area.
But there was something odd about the duo in Room 51. One hotel employee said she never saw the man, and his female companion wore a mask.
“I did ask her to lower it so I could check her ID, and she refused to. But we don’t push the issue when it comes to stuff like that. We just do the best we can,” Chastity Deroehn told WCAX.
The hotel is now working with the FBI to provide video and other information to investigators. A bomb squad scoured their room but found nothing.
Something, however, hadn’t sat right with someone and the duo had been under observation by law enforcement.
The normal protocol for human trafficking is that once over the American frontier, a contact waits to whisk the illegals south to Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York.
The silence from cops seems to indicate something nefarious.
This stretch of the border was also not far from where Pakistani national — and international student — Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, 20, allegedly wanted to slip into the U.S.
His ultimate destination would be New York City. Once there, at the behest of the Islamic State death cult, he allegedly planned to unleash a massacre at a Jewish centre in Brooklyn.
The date of the mass shooting would be around Oct. 7 to mark the first anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel. An extradition hearing is slated for next month.
There has also been a slew of close calls in Canada over the past 18 months.
When more facts emerge, I’m certain that this wasn’t a matter of hunting for real estate or smuggling economic refugees into America.
No, it was something sinister and Canada may be lined up for yet another black eye on the immigration file.
And President Donald Trump will not like it one bit.
@HunterTOSun