National Border Patrol Council - Funeral for Border Patrol Agent Robert Rosas

SAN DIEGO --Thousands turned out Friday to celebrate the life of murdered Border Patrol Agent Robert Rosas who was gunned down last week while on duty near Campo on the Mexican Border.

The midmorning ceremony in El Centro included taps, an honor guard, a riderless horse, a folded-flag presentation, an aircraft flyover and a 21-gun salute.

Rosas' young son kissed his father's casket in a heartbreaking good-bye as he dropped flowers on the casket of the father he barely knew.

Thousands of law enforcement officers from around the country say they braved the heat of east county to pay their respects but also to make a point to the men responsible for Rosas death.

"We have an important job to do and we're going to rededicate ourselves to doing this mission," says Border Patrol Agent Daryl Reed.

Rosas was shot to death while he was tracking suspected smugglers along the U.S.-Mexico Border.

Several men have been detained in Mexico and one person in the United States in connection with Rosas killing. Authorities are sharing few specifics, just saying the case is far from solved.

Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Alan Bersin assured Rosas' family that the killer would be caught.

"We will not rest as a law enforcement community until that justice is done and until it sets the tone for the kind of border and kind of community that Robert Rosas stood for," Bersin pledged.

Rosas' widow asked for people to live each day as if it were their last; to honor Robert's life by truly living their own.

A memorial account has been established for Agent Rosas and his family through Cabrillo Credit Union:

Account Number: 186716-02

Cabrillo Credit Union 1-800-222-7455

10075 Carroll Canyon Road, Suite 120 (858) 547-7400

San Diego, CA 92131-1107

Investigation

Robert Rosas Jr., 30, was tracking a group of suspected illegal immigrants when he came under fire just north of the international line the night of July 23. Blood evidence at the scene suggested that he managed to wound one of his attackers before collapsing.

The father of two young children died at the scene from gunshot wounds to his head, neck and torso. Rosas, an El Centro resident, had been with the Border Patrol for three years.

The U.S. government has offered $100,000 for information leading to the capture and conviction of Rosas' killer or killers and has posted an additional reward of $10,000 for help in finding his service pistol, which was missing when fellow agents found him mortally wounded near his patrol vehicle.

The FBI, which is leading the investigation into the murder, has announced no arrests and named no suspects in the case, even though Baja California officials last week jailed a man they identified as the triggerman in the shooting.

The alleged gunman, Ernesto Parra Valenzuela, and four suspected members of a smuggling ring were arrested about five hours after the slaying. Valenzuela, 36, allegedly had a 9 mm pistol tucked inside his waistband at the time of his capture.

Mexican police said Valenzuela was fingered as the shooter by one of the alleged smugglers -- Jose Eugenio Quintero Ruiz, 49, who is wanted on suspicion of murder and rape in the United States.

Also arrested were Ruiz's brother, Jose Quintero Ruiz, 43, and two taxi drivers, Jose Alfredo Camacho, 34, and Antonio Valladares, 57.

A sixth possible suspect was taken into custody in Santa Clara County last Friday when a signal from the slain agent's cell phone led them to O'Conner Hospital in San Jose.

Rosas' death was the first fatal shooting of a Border Patrol agent since 1998. Last year, an officer with the agency was killed in Arizona when he was struck by a car driven by a suspected drug smuggler.

Over the last 10 years, a total of 23 on-duty USBP agents have died from various causes, including heat exhaustion and heart attacks, according to Keith Croxton, spokesman for the agency's El Centro division.

Funeral for Slain Border Patrol Agent

Investigation