IRS Agent Shoots and Kills Another Agent During a Phoenix Range Training Exercise

By
Dan Zimmerman
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118
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The Federal Bureau of Prisons has a training facility outside Phoenix. Yesterday, during an unspecified training exercise, an IRS agent shot and killed another agent. IRS Criminal Investigations Division agents carry firearms and were among other agencies training at the federally-owned facility yesterday.

The IRS released the following statement

We are aware of an incident involving one of our special agents that occurred during a routine training exercise at the Federal Correctional Institution, Phoenix firing range. The agent was immediately taken to HonorHealth Deer Valley Medical Center to be treated for the injury. The agent passed away shortly after arriving at the hospital. The incident is under investigation.

Our concern today is for the agent and their family.

In addition to the Bureau of Prison, the FBI has been called in to try to figure out what the hell happened.

The FBI’s Phoenix field office is conducting an investigation surrounding the death of an IRS special agent today that occurred at the Federal Correctional Institution, Phoenix firing range.

While the firing range is on Bureau of Prisons grounds, an interagency agreement allows for other law enforcement agencies to use the facility for training purposes. Today, the IRS was at the range for routine training.

To preserve the integrity and capabilities of the investigation, details of the ongoing process will not be released. Findings of the FBI investigation will be turned over to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona for review.

The FBI’s investigation will be methodical and thorough to address every element of the incident.

Don’t look for much transparency if they determine that the shooting reflects badly on either the range or the IRS. It isn’t clear if the agents involved are month the 87,000 new hires by the Biden administration under the wonderfully-named “Inflation Reduction Act.”

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118 COMMENTS

  3. Another post from Deletin’ Dan. Clock’s ticking, of course, since Dan looks like he’s in his fifties and is at least a hundred pounds overweight. “I’M COMIN’, LIZBETH!!!!!”.

    Can’t happen soon enough.🖕🐷

  5. its not an ‘accidental shooting’, that would imply mabe incompetence … its ‘inadvertent shooting’ so it sounds somehow different.

    if it were you or me it would be called ‘manslaughter’ or something else and we would be sitting in a jail cell and anti-gun would be rejoicing.

        • I think only if you are criminally negligent. Manslaughter requires someone, who you didn’t intend to die, is killed, while a crime is committed. Like drunk driving… But killing someone while unsafe gun handling, which you should know can result in death is too nuanced for me. Anybody?

  7. My wife has just finished a stellar career as as Enrolled Agent. A civilian Tax Preparer that has the authority to practice snd represent American Citizens before the IRS.
    I’ve had a long career as a Senior Developmental Engineer, then a Radio Repairman.
    I’ve had no instance in my career to have needed or used a sidearm, much less a bullet proof vest or armoured car. Neither has she. I HAVE worked directly (hands on) deploying explosives in a range setting at sea from a helicopter, and a small boat for two separate classified projects. Why do these clerks need all this, plus riot gear and $5,000 SNIPER RIFLES?
    Waiting for any sort of coherent answer…

      • Communist have seized the reins of power.

        2023 the year of chaos………wait for it.

        I have serious doubts we’ll have elections in 2024.

    • Sending bean counters to go “Ruby Ridge” on someone familiar with firearms and tactics like a Marine ( there are no former Marines ) will turn out very badly for the IRS.

    • The FCC has enforcement duties, but the agent I know doesn’t carry. They call in local cops when they need to make arrests, searches etc. Sure there’s the occasional Al Capone, but armed IRS agents seems to be an answer without a question.

  8. Could, maybe, the IRS “extra special” agents take over Bobby Hunter Biden’s security? He has all those tax problems that need investigating anyhow.

  9. Chances are the gun used in the accident had no manual safety and was probably a Glock handgun with no manual safety. Previously I have detailed the reasons why the Glock handgun is an usafe weapon to use or carry for anyone.

    From fiscal years 2015-2019, the IRS ranked eighth among “general and administrative” agencies in arms, equipment, and ammunition spending at $8,697,142, according to the OpenTheBooks report.

    That included $855,000 on Glock 19 handguns and $3.5 million on ammunition. It preferred .40-caliber Glocks, Smith & Wesson and H&K AR-15s, and Remington shotguns for its more than 2,000 special agents.

    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/washington-secrets/irs-starting-point-4-600-guns-5-million-rounds-of-ammo-hitman-suits

    Two federal investigations in the past decade found that IRS agents had not been sufficiently trained and were accident-prone with the weapons they have. Armed IRS raids on nonviolent taxpayers surfaced as a concern almost 25 years ago during a Senate hearing.

    2. Armed Agents ‘Not Properly Trained’

    The IRS’s National Criminal Investigation Training Academy has the responsibility to implement firearms training and a related qualification program nationwide.

    However, IRS agents assigned to the Criminal Investigation division regularly failed to stay up to date with training or to report incidents of improper firearms use, according to a 2018 report from the Treasury Department’s inspector general for tax administration.

    The inspector general’s report notes that “there is no national level review of firearms training records to ensure that all special agents meet the qualification requirements.”

    “Special agents not properly trained in the use of firearms could endanger the public, as well as their fellow special agents, and expose the IRS to possible litigation over injuries or for damages,” the report says.

    3. More Unintended Discharges Than Intended Ones

    The poor firearms training for IRS agents has led to more accidental firings than intentional firings, according to a separate inspector general’s report from 2012.

    https://www.dailysignal.com/2022/08/12/with-87000-new-agents-on-way-4-facts-about-irs-gun-arsenal/

    • darcydodo…The only thing on the planet I agree with you is the Glock no safety is an accident waiting to happen especially in the hands of firesrm newbes. However not knowing what firearm was probably misused accidentally I won’t speculate or commit.

      • well it happened to me…once….since i’ve gotten the safe-T-bloc though…things have improved…a gun without a safety in a highly volatile situation is an accident waiting to happen….the Glock will never win any beauty contests…but it is rugged and dependable…damn near indestructible!

    • dacian, the DUNDERHEAD, For your edification GLOCK pistols are NOT unsafe. The ultimate safety on any firearm is the person who is holding it in his/her hands. “Safeties are mechanical devices subject to mechanical failure from wear and other factors, and they can fail when least expected.”
      The reports by those two “Federal Investigations” were audits, not investigations. And the conclusions drawn there from are OPINIONS. I also note that those “investigations” took place in 2018 and 2012? Hardly up-to-date information?
      In my opinion no one is ever fully trained. NO ONE. Anyone who says they do not need training is a safety hazard to himself and others.
      Most law enforcement agencies train with a firearm once a year. In my humble opinion, woefully inadequate. Training and practice are necessary to obtain and maintain proficiency with a firearm, just as with any tool.

      • It why us mere civilians (said with a condescending sneer) regularly out perform the trained experts. We practice frequently.

        • Southern, some civilians do. But I also know of a number of law enforcement officers who compete each year in NRA Police Combat competitions who are Distinguished Experts.
          Unfortunately, MOST civilians don’t practice any more than police or corrections people.

      • To Walter the Beverly Hillbilly

        Far Right ignoramuses, like yourself, ignore reality when it does not fit your paranoid warped gun worshiping agenda. In reality more accidents happen with Glocks and their cheap knock off clones than any other type of handgun, but of course only someone retarded would fail to notice that.

        • dacian, the DUNDERHEAD. In your own inimitable way, you have again proven that you are a real live DUNDERHEAD. You make another of your wild accusations without any READ stats to back up your notions.
          Where is your proof?
          FACT: 99.99999999999999% of all negligent discharges are due to HUMAN ERROR. Not the firearm. It seems you have such a mortal fear of guns, that you are unable to differentiate a malfunction from human error.
          Do you still pretend to be an “expert” on firearms?
          Answer these two simple questions:
          1) What is the firing sequence of a cartridge? and
          2) What is a squib load?
          I also noted that you have finally admitted that you are a
          S O C I A L I S T! In other words a control freak.
          What you know about firearms must have come out of a CrackerJack box.

        • Except for a few exceptions, revolvers don’t have manual safety devices either. Yet no one says revolvers are unsafe.

        • often wondered if that guy who shot the young woman at the Capitol was using a Glock…and just got a little over-excited?

      • especially if you drop it while demonstrating your dancing techniques…then have it discharge in a crowd when you attempt to pick it up!

        • Frank, If it “discharges” when you attempt to pick it up, you did two things wrong!
          1) It was not secured in a decent holster (your fault).
          2) You put your finger inside the trigger guard when you went to pick it up (YOUR FAULT)
          99.999999999% of all negligent discharges occur due to HUMAN ERROR. Not the fault of the gun.

        • Frank, the ONLY safety on a firearm that matters is in between your ears. A safety is a mechanical device PRONE TO FAILURE.

  11. This can be the start of a new drinking game. Wherever you are, stop and drink a toast shot of your favorite liquor. Hey man, nice shot!

  14. I feel terrible for their family.

    Where are the Democrats and Everytown/Moms calling for the IRS to be disarmed because guns are dangerous and unsafe?

  15. earlier this morning. before this TTAG article appeared, ove in last night’s gun meme comments, I posted the below video that basically asks the same question about why the rifle range…

    • The Glock Models 5MOS, 19MOS and 26 are the standard issued pistols for CI. They are also allowed one additional backup which has to be a Glock 26, Glock 43, Glock 43X or 43X MOS, or a Glock 48 & 48 MOS.

      They also have S&W AR carbines, machine guns, and Beretta 1302 shotguns.

      That’s what they officially admit to.

  23. TRIGGER WARNING. Bad stuff said about certain “genders” and groups below.

    I’d bet dollars to donuts the shooter was a woman and a minority. If the shooter was a White male, the press would have reported it, per Coulter’s Law. Minority women seem to be the Fed’s top hires these days. Kinda like when the all woman naval vessel crashed and almost sank.

  24. I try really hard to avoid ranges. It’s the nature of the business, there are firearms being discharged, many times by novice or beginners in the firearms shooting environment. It is inevitable, people make mistakes in a gun range environments and it can and does have tragic consequences.

    To that extent of the morbid humor some find in an armed IRS agent being the victim of a gun range shooting incident, it’s tragic. This wasn’t an undocumented cartel member with a duffel bag full of Mexi-pills trying to evade Border Patrol and shooting himself climbing over a fence in some lonely spot of the southwest or a 15 felonies convicted gang member from Chicago or some other crime infested shit-hole city, far from that, it was an accountant looking for a better life crunching numbers.

      • @Walter E Beverly III

        Unless I’m participating in structured training, which I use Center Target Sports in Post Falls, Id, I have my own range where I shoot.

        • MLee Good for you! Most of us do not and don’t have enough money to be able to have our own range. So we must rely on our local gun club or a buddy who have enough property to have the ability to shoot safely.
          The solution to seeing an unsafe shooter on the range is to do one or more of the following:
          1) Admonish the offender gently but with enough facts to show the error of his/her ways;
          2) Call the President of your club or the posted number to report such violations of gun safety; and or
          3) just leave.

    • They FEEBS sure as hell ain’t gonna publicize or fault the two-inch plus fake nails their newest EEOC/AA hire had on zis/zer/zims paws that was likely the major contributing factor in this inevitable “public service” discharge.

  27. The Four Rules of firearm safety are there for a reason – they WORK!

    My Agency required that we train on the range wearing our soft armor with the realization that the damage from an accidental / negligent discharge might be mitigated if the round struck our armor rather than our unprotected body.

    The Feds are paying, under the PSOB Program, $422,000 in 2023 for a Line-of-Duty-Death (LODD)+ whatever life insurance the Agent may have elected to fund through payroll deductions. These monies are paid out to the designated survivor(s) tax-free.

  29. whoooopsyyyydoodel
    and IMO why does a whole fed dept that should be 100% accountants and lawyers need guns?…just have the locals do the arresting and save money!

    • bobo, this isn’t about just arming the irs for tax purposes!
      These people along with other federal agency agents
      will be used in mass in the future. This smells of a
      formation of domestic agents to keep the plebs in check
      should the need arise which can only lead to gun
      control of POTG.

  31. As I have said before on TTAG. Agents of the government shoot the innocent and the guilty all the time.
    And until very recently. They were never prosecuted for shooting innocent people. And federal government agents are never prosecuted for shooting innocent people.
    Ruby Ridge???

    But the Libertarians Liberals and the Left are still very comfortable. With the state having a monopoly on the use of violence. Including the monopoly on the use of deadly violence.

  32. Negligent Discharge. Accountability.
    These terms are never used by law enforcement agencies when referring to their own “Mishaps” and “Accidents”, nor does the media when regurgitating these incidents because it embarrasses the agencies involved, and just a LITTLE lying to the public is OK, right? It IS for their own good, right?
    Especially at a range where everyone is cognizant of every firearm, magazine and every round present. Right? How can lessons be learned without examples taken from real life?

  33. Why are IRS agents even armed? If the Democrats have their way America will be run by an army of armed bureaucrats .

  34. Ah yes, the fbi is investigating. The same agency that has never found a shooting by one of its agents that it didn’t consider justified.

  38. Now if we can get the ATF to do the same thing, it won’t be long before We The People will be rid of both agencies.

  39. US Marshals are the only constitutionally approved Federal law enforcement, All others should be defunded and disbanned!

  40. How anybody can use levity when commenting on an unfortunate and fatal accident appals me. It’s not the first and it will not be the Last.
    I was for some years a Smallarms Instructor and Musketry Coach in the Royal Air Force and though I did not witness any fatal accidents I did witness one or two bloody near misses and one that was quite personal and invloved me helping to train the LOCAL CIVILIAN POLICE Force’
    So I appreciate just how easy accidents are when there are a lot of people and a lot of loaded firearms in close proximity and as they ‘FAMILIARITY BREEDS CONTEMPT’.
    I natice thatv there are one or two comment here about the POLICE.
    As you know here inthe UK most of the Police most of the time ARE unarmed thbough we do have ARMED RAPID RESPONSE UNITS. But even when before WW1 most firearms were freely available in Great Britain out Police were still unarmed, because there has never been a GUN CULTURE in the UK and very few people ever had a firearm apart from pest control and shotguns for gaame shooting. I doubt that 1 in a 1000 ever had handguns and armed robbery was or death by gun crime was extremly rare.
    By the way the SHOOTING of a POLICE Officer in persuance of his or her duty was a MANDATORY DEATH SENTENCE to be executed within 60 days . –

      • Frank, the only SAFETY that matters is the one between your ears. A Safety is a mechanical device prone to failure.

  42. Comedian Jerry Seinfeld would say, “Aw, that’s a shame.”

    And I’m waiting for a TV station to end their nightly news segment by saying, “Finally tonight, there’s some good news out of Phoenix, Arizona. Thanks to some fortunate aim or a very lucky shot, there’s one less revenuer in America.”

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