The suspects stayed for six nights before the highway confrontation and were rarely seen, staff at a Vermont hotel say
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Two suspects involved in a fatal gunfight that left a U.S. Border Patrol agent dead near the Canadian border stayed six nights at a Vermont hotel before the highway confrontation — and were keen on privacy, always wearing medical face masks, according to hotel staff.
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The shootout on Monday afternoon on Interstate 91 near Coventry, Vermont, left one of the suspects dead, a German male citizen, and another, a woman, injured, who is being treated in hospital under guard. Killed in the shooting was Border Patrol Agent David (Chris) Maland, 44.
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“They didn’t want housekeeping service, they kept to themselves. We only saw her when she wanted to extend (their stay),” said Chastity Deroehn, a desk clerk at Newport City Inn & Suites.
“I never saw him. We’ve only dealt with the woman,” she said.
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The couple stood out because they always wore large, white N95 face masks that covered most of their faces, staff said.
“That stuck out fishy here because we don’t have a high COVID rate now in our area. So anytime anybody wears a mask, we don’t judge, but it does kind of stick out a little bit. When you’re standing outside by herself, there’s no one around you, but you still have your mask on. Everywhere she went, she kept the mask.”
Samantha Camley, manager of the hotel, said the couple were walk-in customers who arrived on Dec. 14 and asked for a room for one night.
The woman checked in using a driver’s license from Seattle, Washington, she said.
While the female guest dealt with the desk staff, the man stood far from the counter, also wearing a large face mask, Camley said.
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Other than that, there wasn’t anything unusual about their stay, she said.
“There was no customer complaints. There wasn’t any reports of anything. … None of our staff members had any issues, they didn’t come across anything. During their stay they just kind of kept themselves and would just come and go.”
Everywhere she went, she kept the mask.
Each night, the woman came to the desk to book for another night.
“You never know who you’re going to check in,” said Deroehn. “There were no red flags for us on her. She didn’t act strange, there were not long conversations, just small chitchat, but there was no red flag. She was just acting normally, that they’re up here traveling.”
The hotel staff are saddened by the shooting of the agent and are cooperating with the FBI in their investigation, they said.
“The community out here is very close knit. Most of us know all our border agents and customs officers. We’re all very shocked,” said Deroehn.
“I know the FBI interviewed guests that were surrounding their area to see if they noticed anything suspicious,” Camley said.
Neither the FBI, the lead agency investigating the shooting, nor U.S. Customs and Border Protection, answered questions confirming or denying the account.
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The shooting took place about 3:15 p.m., Monday, on a heavily wooded stretch of highway about 20 kilometres south of the Quebec border.
The FBI said a traffic stop by the Border Patrol resulted in “an exchange of gunfire” that struck Maland. The male suspect was killed and the other suspect injured. Members of the community said there were two Border Patrol agents conducting the traffic stop and a third agent joined them before the shooting. This was not confirmed by officials.
The FBI said the male suspect is a German national in the U.S. on a current visa. The incident is still under investigation.
Camley said the agent, Maland, lived in the community and was well-liked.
Maland was a nine-year veteran of the Border Patrol and a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, officials said. He had worked security duty at the Pentagon during the time of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, his family told The Associated Press.
“He was a devoted agent who served with honor and bravery,” a family statement provided to AP Tuesday said. “He had a tremendous respect and pride for the work he did; he truly embodied service over self.”
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