FBI agent charged with attempted murder in subway shooting in Maryland
- Eduardo Valdivia, who was off duty at the time, says he acted in self-defence when he wounded an unarmed train passenger
- The victim had approached Valdivia in the carriage, sat across from him and asked the agent for money
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, according to court records unsealed on Tuesday.
During a hearing, Montgomery County prosecutors outlined their account of how the December 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.
Defence lawyer Robert Bonsib said Valdivia acted in self-defence 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 was not justified.