A United States Border Patrol agent was gunned down during a traffic stop in Vermont near the Canadian border, officials have confirmed. It happened around 3:15 p.m. Monday on Interstate 91 in Coventry, 20 miles from the Northern border, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

The family of a U.S. Border Patrol agent who was killed in Vermont during a traffic stop near the Canadian border says he was a military veteran who worked security duty at the Pentagon during the time of the Sept.

U.S. officials say the Pentagon will begin deploying as many as 1,500 active duty troops to help secure the southern border in the coming days.

The US Department of Defense is deploying 1,500 active-duty service members along with additional air and intelligence assets to the southern border to support enforcement operations already underway.