U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Agent Murdered

A manhunt is on for a gunman who shot and killed a customs agent in broad daylight in a parking lot this morning.

The unidentified agent, a member of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Task Force, was taken to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, Florida in critical condition after the shooting, which occurred about 8:55 a.m., police spokesman Sgt. Bryan Davis said.

His death was announced around noon.

It is not known if the shooting outside the postal service's South Florida Processing and Distribution Center at Pines Boulevard and Dykes Road had anything to do with the agent's job, or if it was a random act of violence.

Davis said police are actively looking for the gunman, who is described as between 45 to 55 years old, with a full head of gray hair. He was wearing a short-sleeve, green plaid shirt and last seen driving eastbound on Pines Boulevard in a 2005 gray-green Chrysler 300 four-door sedan.

About 200 federal, state and local law enforcement agents are participating in a dragnet for the gunman, Davis said.

Officers canvassed businesses in the area, looking for any surveillance video tape that might show the shooting or the suspect.

A statewide alert has also been issued.

About a hundred officers assembled at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection office near the post office, many of them in bullet-resistant vests. A Blackhawk helicopter from the federal Department of Homeland Security made several stops there to pick up officers.

"We're just going to saturate the area," Davis said. "We'll just start turning over every rock."

Davis said officers responding to the shooting found the agent laying next to his black Chrysler 300 sedan.

The agent was shot once, but Davis would not say where.

The victim worked in internal affairs with Customs and Border Protection, said agency spokesman Jose Castellano. He had no further details.

The High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program coordinates local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to combat drug-related crime in targeted regions.

South Florida, including Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe and Palm Beach counties, was designated for the program in 1990 because of the area's high level of drug trafficking.

The lobby of the postal service center, where people can drop off mail, was closed. However, Davis said the sorting area was open.

The center is one of three mail distribution centers in South Florida. The others are in Fort Lauderdale and Miami.

Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call Broward Crime Stoppers at at 954-493-TIPS, Pembroke Pines police, 954-431-2200, or go online to: www.browardcrimestoppers.org.