FBI Mourns After 2 Agents Killed During Exercise

After 2 FBI agents were killed in a training exercise, the agency is mourning the loss of “two brave and courageous men.”

The agents, Christopher Lorek and Stephen Shaw, were killed in an accident in Virginia. The pair had been assigned to the FBI’s Critical Incident Response Group.

Both men were married with young children.

“We mourn the loss of two brave and courageous men,” FBI Director Robert S. Mueller said in a statement issued Sunday.

“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. Our hearts are with their wives, children, and other loved ones who feel their loss most deeply. And they will always be part of the FBI Family.”

The 2 FBI agents were reportedly killed during a hostage rescue training exercise.

The pair were in the Hostage Rescue Team, part of the Critical Response Group based at Quantico. The team is noted for the successful rescue earlier this year of a 5-year-old boy who was being held hostage by a 65-year-old man. The boy was saved from an underground bunker while the man was killed by agents.

It took seven days of negotiations to bring the hostage incident to an end, starting after kidnapper Jim Dykes shot school bus driver Charles Poland and took the child. Police had attempting to negotiate with Dykes for a week afterward, and the child was reportedly unharmed throughout the incident.

The Hostage Rescue Team was formed 30 years ago in preparation for the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. The 1976 Olympics in Munich had seen Israeli athletes held hostage, and ultimately killed, during the games. Munich authorities were criticized for not having a dedicated hostage rescue team.

After the 2 FBI agents were killed in the exercise, the agency is conducting an investigation into what cause the incident.