Never heard of this use of force case by the FBI agent before. Would a concealed carry citizen or regular police officer have fared this well after shooting an unarmed person who had VERBALLY assaulted them?



https://apnews.com/article/fbi...f25ec448da62c4e7e8ab

An FBI agent who was acquitted of attempted murder for shooting a man on a train nearly four years ago was arrested Monday in Maryland on charges that he sexually assaulted two women, according to police and court records.

Eduardo Valdivia has been suspended by the FBI pending the conclusion of a police investigation in Montgomery County, Maryland, a bureau spokesperson said.

“The FBI takes allegations of criminal violations and misconduct very seriously,” the FBI spokesperson said in a statement. “Because this is an ongoing investigation, the FBI cannot comment further.”

Valdivia previously was charged and acquitted in 2022 of attempted second-degree murder and other charges stemming from an off-duty shooting aboard a moving Metro train near Washington, D.C.

Online court records show Valdivia now faces felony and misdemeanor charges, including two counts of second-degree rape. The dates of the alleged offenses are in May 2024 and September 2024.

Defense attorney Robert Bonsib, who represented Valdivia in the shooting case, confirmed that his client was arrested Monday on sexual assault charges.

“We don’t accept at first blush any of the allegations until all of the evidence is in,” Bonsib said.

A spokesperson for the Montgomery County Police Department identified Valdivia as the arrested FBI agent without commenting on his connection to the shooting.


Police detectives believe there may be additional victims, and they’re planning a news conference on Tuesday “to encourage them to come forward,” the department said in a statement. Police didn’t immediately release any other information about the charges.

Valdivia, 40, of Gaithersburg, Maryland, was ordered held in custody after his initial court appearance on Monday, Bonsib said. Valdivia is scheduled to return to court Tuesday for a bond hearing before a judge, Bonsib said.

Bonsib has said Valdivia joined the FBI in 2011 and was promoted to supervisory special agent at the FBI headquarters in 2019. The attorney said Valdivia had been working as an FBI agent since his acquittal.

On Dec. 15, 2020, a confrontation between Valdivia and an unarmed passenger swiftly escalated from a testy exchange of words to a shooting on a train approaching the Medical Center station in Bethesda, Maryland.

Valdivia shot and wounded the man from a distance of roughly 2 to 3 feet (0.6 to 0.9 meters) after repeatedly telling the man to back up, county prosecutor Robert Hill said in court. The wounded man had part or all of his spleen, colon and pancreas removed during surgery after the shooting, Hill said.

Bonsib has said Valdivia acted in self-defense as the man approached him at the rear of a train car.

“The law does not require that you wait to be struck before you take action. Had this resulted in a hands-on fight and a struggle for Agent Valdivia’s gun, only God knows what could have happened,” Bonsib said after Valdivia was charged.



Previous charge:

FBI agent charged in off-duty shooting of man on subway

https://apnews.com/article/sho...cfa09bebd82f2d7aba86

An FBI agent has been charged with attempted murder in the off-duty shooting of another man on a Metro subway train last year in a Maryland suburb of Washington, D.C., according to court records unsealed Tuesday.

During a hearing, Montgomery County prosecutors outlined their account of how the Dec. 15 confrontation between the 37-year-old agent, Eduardo Valdivia, and an unarmed passenger swiftly escalated from a testy exchange of words to a shooting on a train approaching Medical Center station in Bethesda.

Defense attorney Robert Bonsib said Valdivia acted in self-defense as the man approached him at the rear of a train car.

“The law does not require that you wait to be struck before you take action. Had this resulted in a hands-on fight and a struggle for Agent Valdivia’s gun, only God knows what could have happened,” Bonsib said after a judge ordered the agent released from custody.

After the hearing, the county’s top prosecutor declined to explain why his office concluded that the shooting wasn’t justified.

“We would not have brought the charge if we thought that it was protected by law,” Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy told reporters. “To explain all of the reasons why we came to this conclusion would be effectively for me to give you a closing argument as to a five-month investigation. This is not the appropriate time.”

Valdivia shot and wounded the man from a distance of roughly 2 to 3 feet (0.6 to 0.9 meters) after repeatedly telling the man to back up, county prosecutor Robert Hill said in court.


The man had approached Valdivia on a train, sat across from him and asked the agent for money, Hill said. The man muttered expletives and began to walk away when the agent said he didn’t have any money to give, the prosecutor added.

“Watch your mouth,” the agent told the man, according to Hill.

After the man turned and approached him again, Valdivia pulled a gun from a holster and shot him, the prosecutor said. Another passenger was in the agent’s line of fire, about 15 feet (4.6 meters) away, but wasn’t harmed, Hill added.

A grand jury indicted Valdivia on charges including attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault and reckless endangerment.

Valdivia turned himself in to local authorities at a county jail Tuesday morning. Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Joan Ryon agreed to release him on personal recognizance. Prosecutors didn’t object.

The wounded man had part or all of his spleen, colon and pancreas removed during surgery after the shooting, according to Hill.

In a detailed press release, Bonsib said his client has had “an impeccable personal and professional background.” He joined the bureau in 2011, was promoted to the position of supervisory special agent at FBI headquarters last year and currently provides “operational guidance and programmatic oversight” of investigations into racially motivated and anti-government extremists, Bonsib said.

Valdivia was on his way to work on the morning of the shooting when the man approached him.

Bonsib said court records show the wounded man has a criminal record with a history of unpredictable and violent behavior, including a 2019 incident in which the man allegedly attacked and threatened to kill somebody at a Metro station.

Prosecutors questioned the relevance of the wounded man’s record since the agent didn’t know about it and hadn’t met him before the morning of the shooting.

The indictment names the man who was shot and a second passenger, who it identifies as the victim of the reckless endangerment charge for being in the line of fire.

In a statement Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the FBI’s Baltimore field office said the bureau was aware of the charges and is fully cooperating with the investigation.

“As is customary following a shooting incident, this matter will be subject to internal review,” spokeswoman Joy Jiras said.

The Metro Transit Police Department said in December that it had reviewed video footage and taken statements from Metro employees, passengers and others.

The Medical Center station serves the National Institutes of Health and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

FBI Agents Association President Brian O’Hare said in a statement that the group supports agents going through the legal process because of work actions.

“FBI Special Agents must often make difficult, split-second decisions to protect the American public. FBIAA will ensure that our Agent member and his family are supported through this challenging time,” O’Hare said.

FBI = DPSD ("Democrats' Private Security Detail") All other considerations are secondary. As long as they protect Deep State they get a pass. On ... everything.

Sounds like an example of a fuck up is gonna fuck up. But, in this case, the effect is terrible.

No issue with shooting someone at 2-3 feet, who’s made verbal threats.

That can definitely be reasonable, depending on situation etc.

(Eg, large, muscular man, acting crazy, saying “I’m going to beat your skull in,” etc.)

If I was on the jury with only this info I'd vote to acquit. The assaulted citizen must be in reasonable fear of serious harm, to make this short. One doesn't have to be shot, smacked or stabbed to protect himself.

If I'd already had a serious argument and my aggravator advanced on me, my defense alarms would go off. At a guess the defense might have mentioned that scenario to the jury.

I'm taking Krav Maga classes specifically so I don't have to resort to a gun or knife when fists and feet may suffice. But don't FBI agents get trained on hand/hand combat for situations where a gun is not yet called for? I'd think someone like that needs to have a force option between a verbal warning and shooting the other guy.