Alexis Sanchez Agostini, who shot a member of the Puerto Rico Police Department's Mayaguez Drugs division and then allegedly killed himself, becomes the first person to die in US domestic drug law enforcement operations this year. Agent Carlos Rivera Vega, who died Tuesday, a week after being shot, becomes the second.

Last year, 41 people were killed in such operations, down from more than 50 each in the previous two years, when the Chronicle began tracking such deaths.

According to the Puerto Rican newspaper El Nuevo Dia, Vega and other members of the dope squad were investigating at the Concordia Public Housing Complex, when Agostini walked up and began questioning them about why they were there. He then pulled out a .357 caliber pistol and shot Vega in the stomach.

According to police, Agostini Vega then ran a short distance from the scene and took his own life.

Vega, a 14-year veteran of the department, was taken to a local hospital, but never recovered, succumbing to his wounds Tuesday.

Police refused to divulge further details about the investigation or the confrontation.