Report: Two more killings traced to missing Fast & Furious guns

FILE: October 14, 2011: A man writes "Fast" -- in reference to Operation Fast and Furious -- on a paper mache gun during a protest in Mexico City . (REUTERS)

Another weapon lost in the Obama administration's failed Fast and Furious gun-tracking operation has purportedly been traced to two more killings, including the fatal shooting of a police chief in Mexico.

The officer was killed Jan. 29 in the city of Hostotipaquillo when gunmen intercepted his patrol car and opened fire, according to Justice Department records obtained by The Los Angeles Times. The chief’s bodyguard was also killed and a second bodyguard and the chief’s wife were wounded.

Operation Fast and Furious was run out of an Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives field office in Arizona. The plan was to sell guns to buyers and trace them in the black market as the crossed the U.S.-Mexico border, with the expectation they would lead federal officials to drug cartel leaders.

However, hundreds of guns were lost in the operation. And roughly 210 people have either been killed or wounded by them, according to Mexican officials.

In addition, U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was fatally shot.

His 2010 death sparked several Capitol Hill investigations and a vote by the Republican-controlled House to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for not turning over records.

The semi-automatic rifle that killed the police chief in central Mexico has been traced to the Lone Wolf Trading Company, a gun store in Glendale, Ariz.

The gun was purchased in February 2010 by 26-year-old Jacob A. Montelongo, of Phoenix, who purportedly bought more than 100 guns connected to Fast and Furious. He is now serving 41 months in prison on charges including making false statements and smuggling goods from the United States. It is unclear how the gun got deep into Mexico

The ATF declined to discuss the issue with the newspaper.