TUCSON, Arizona (AP) -- A Border Patrol agent accidentally killed an illegal
                  immigrant from Mexico while trying to arrest three men west of Tucson,
                  authorities said.

                  Deputy Steve Easton of the Pima County Sheriff's Office said the man was shot
                  when Agent Marco Antonio Rivera's gun discharged accidentally while Rivera
                  was trying to detain the man.

                  Easton said Rivera saw the three men walking north along Arizona highway 86;
                  they ran into the desert when he approached. Rivera corralled two men when
                  they attempted to cross under a barbed-wire fence, but the third man climbed
                  over, Easton said.

                  Rivera, 34, ordered the man to return to his side of the fence, but the gun
                  discharged accidentally as the 22-year-old moved toward the agent, Easton said.
                  The bullet hit the man's arm and continued into his torso, Easton said.

                  Rivera was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation, a routine step
                  in a shooting involving an officer. Easton said the Sheriff's Department was
                  handling the investigation at the Border Patrol's request.

                  The other two men -- the dead man's brother and brother-in-law -- were being
                  held by the Border Patrol late Monday. Their names were withheld pending
                  notification of the victim's family.

                  However, the Mexican government identified the victim as Roberto Chavez
                  Resendiz in a news release demanding an investigation.

                  Copyright 2001 The Associated Press.