The Arizona-Mexico border has been the site of many violent encounters in the past decade, including shootings that have been fatal to a federal agent or illegal border crosser. Among those occurring in the last decade:

February 2005

U.S. Border Patrol agent Denin Hermosillo shot and killed Julio Cesar Yenez Ramirez, 31, of Nogales, Sonora, in Pesqueira Canyon, about 10 miles north of the border. Hermosillo and other agents were tracking marijuana smugglers, who scattered when the agents moved in. Hermosillo fired one shot, striking Yenez Ramirez.

June 2003

Border Patrol agent Cesar Cervantes shot and killed Ricardo Olivares Martinez, 22, of Agua Prieta, Sonora about 1 1/2 miles east of the Douglas Port of Entry. Martinez had been with a group of illegal entrants who jumped a border fence. He ran back to the fence and tried to jump it, then turned to confront Cervantes and was throwing rocks at the agent before he was shot.

February 2003

Inspector Phillip Reese of U.S. Customs and Border Protection shot William Otto Petersen, 30, of Glendale at the Lukeville Port of Entry. A struggle began after Reese asked Petersen to allow his vehicle to be searched. Reese said he feared for his safety and that of another inspector after Petersen started the engine of his SUV and began driving forward. Petersen had been wanted on charges of felony flight from law enforcement and resisting arrest, as well as a probation violation.

August 2002

Kris Eggle, 28, a park ranger for Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, was fatally shot by a man who was fleeing from Mexican police across the border. The gunman, Panfilo Murillo Aguila, was fatally shot by Mexican police.

December 1999

A U.S. Border Patrol agent shot Luis Oscar Mendoza Jr., 25, of Pirtleville. Witnesses said Mendoza was armed with a rifle and was robbing a group of illegal border crossers about 1 1/2 miles north of the border on the western edge of Pirtleville.

November 1999

Border Patrol agent Daniel Hann killed marijuana-smuggling suspect David Maldonado Quijada, 29, of Nogales, Sonora. Agents said Maldonado had abandoned a van full of the drug when he fled into a canyon east of Nogales. Another agent caught Maldonado, and they struggled. Maldonado was about to strike the agent with a large rock when Hann shot him.

June 1998

Border Patrol agent Alexander Kirpnick, 27, was shot and killed by Bernardo Velarde Lopez, who was one of four in a group of marijuana smugglers in Potrero Canyon, west of Nogales. Velarde was given two consecutive life terms in 2001. — Compiled by Jayne O'Sullivan