US TODAY: Slain border agent's family files $25M claim against U.S.

PHOENIX -- The family of slain Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry filed a $25 million wrongful death claim Wednesday against the federal government, saying he was killed because U.S. investigators allowed murder weapons into the hands of criminals.

Terry died Dec. 14, 2010, when his special-operations unit got into a shootout with border bandits in a remote canyon area near Rio Rico. At the scene, investigators found two AK-47s that were traced back to a gun-smuggling probe by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Congressional investigations and Department of Justice records have since revealed that ATF agents allowed as many as 1,400 guns to be transported into Mexico, and that the AK-47s were purchased by a known firearms trafficker. The so-called "gun-walking" strategy used in Operation Fast and Furious remains the subject of inquiries by Congress and the Department of Justice's inspector general.

• STORY: Justice, House GOP tangle over Fast and Furious

In the civil claim, which is a required legal step prior to the filing of a lawsuit, Terry's family says federal agents were not only negligent, but acted "in violation of ATF's own policies and procedures."

"The murder of Agent Terry and other acts of violent crimes were the natural consequence of ATF's decision to let dangerous weapons designed to kill human beings 'walk' into the hands of violent drug-trafficking gangs," says the claim, filed by Phoenix attorneys Patrick McGroder III and Lincoln Combs.

The 65-page document was filed on behalf of Terry's parents, Josie and Kent Terry Sr., as well as surviving siblings. In it, family members criticize federal authorities for attempting to cover up the flawed strategy in Fast and Furious, and its connection with Brian Terry's death.

The claim says family members met in March 2011 with former U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke, who resigned amid the scandal. The claim alleges he incorrectly said that guns found at the scene were from a store in Texas, and that the fatal bullet would never be found even though it was recovered during an autopsy.

"Burke hemmed and hawed, bobbed and weaved, refused to give straight answers, and flat-out lied about when he knew about Brian's death and Operation Fast and Furious," the family alleges.

The claim contains poetry, dozens of family photographs, lyrics from Terry's favorite songs and a detailed account of his life. In explanation of the $25 million demand, it concludes: "The love and companionship of a beloved son, warrior and American hero like Brian is impossible to quantify, but it is worth at least that much."

Wagner also reports for The Arizona Republic.

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