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(Image source: FBI)
BY ELIZABETH HAGEDORN
Two FBI special agents died in a training accident off the coast of Virginia Beach according
to a bureau spokesperson.
Special agents Christopher Lorek and Stephen Shaw were part of the Hostage Rescue Team,
known as HRT, a full-time counterrorism tactical unit based in Quantico. (Via CBS)
No word yet from the FBI on cause of death, though a Navy spokesperson spoke to WAVY...
...saying the accident involved a helicopter
and happened on a Navy Military Sealift Command ship, which the FBI had been using for training
purposes. FBI Director Robert Mueller issued this statement...
"We mourn the loss of two brave and courageous men. Like all who serve on the Hostage Rescue
Team, they accept the highest risk each and every day, when training and on operational
missions, to keep our nation safe... [T]hey will always be part of the FBI Family." (Via
USA Today)
The HRT was formed 30 years ago to handle the 1984 Olympics following the tragedy that
killed 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Games. (Via History Channel)
And more recently, this same elite unit was part of the search for the accused Boston
bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. (Via ABC)
This brings the total number of training-related deaths in the HRT to four. An agent died in
1986 falling from a helicopter and another in 2006 after accidentally being shot during
a live-fire exercise. This latest case remains under investigation.