By Michael Donoghue
Vermont News First

A wanted Rhode Island fugitive, who assaulted five U.S. Border Patrol Agents in the Northeast Kingdom with an unregistered machine gun last year, pleaded not guilty Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Burlington to four felony gun charges.

Brenden Sackal, 32, of Rockville, R.I. denied charges of assaulting Border Patrol Agents with a deadly weapon while doing their official duties on July 14, 2024 and for possessing and discharging a machine gun to aid in the assault on federal officers.  He also denied charges of possessing an unregistered machine gun, and possessing a machine gun lacking an identification number as required by the National Firearms Act.

Law enforcement chased Sackal’s 2003 Chevrolet pickup truck for more than 20 miles in New Hampshire and Vermont before he crashed into two Vermont State Police cruisers in East Burke about 10 p.m.  Sgt. Joshua Mikkola and Troopers Richard Berlandy and Jesse Nash were credited with helping take the fugitive into custody.

Sackal, with guns in both hands, exited his truck and fired dozens of rounds at Berlandy, police said.  After being struck and going to the ground, Sackal continued to fire with both guns, police said.

Mikkola and Berlandy, who both returned fire and wounded the suspect, were later cleared of any possible wrongdoing in the shooting by state prosecutors.

The names of the five U.S. Border Patrol Agents, who came from offices in Beecher Falls and Newport, have not been identified publicly.  They are listed only by their initials in the federal indictment.

The AR-type privately made 5.56 NATO caliber pistol with no serial number was found with an empty 40-round magazine, along with two 40-caliber semi-automatics.  Police found at least 37 casings of the 5.56 caliber pistol and 4 casings of the 40-caliber handguns.

Authorities have said it was amazing that nobody was killed or injured other than Sackal in the wild shootout and chase.
Sackal pleaded not guilty in Vermont Superior Court in St. Johnsbury in August to 17 state charges, including attempted aggravated murder of the three state troopers, attempted aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and 7 counts of possession of a large capacity ammunition feeding device.  He also is charged with reckless driving and attempting to elude.  

Now Sackal is facing charges for federal crimes, including assaulting the Border Patrol Agents, who opted not to return fire.
Sackal was reportedly struck three times by state police, in a leg, the abdomen and in the tactical helmet that he was wearing.  A Border Patrol Agent, who is an EMT, a Customs and Border Protection Officer, Berlandy and Nash provided life-saving care to the fugitive.

He was taken to a St. Johnsbury hospital and later transferred to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H. for about three weeks.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Dana E. Hill successfully argued in court on Wednesday that Sackal needed to be detained pending his federal trial because he was a danger to the community and a risk to flee.

Federal Magistrate Judge Kevin Doyle agreed and said he would give the defense until Feb. 10 to investigate the case and to consider filing pre-trial motions.

Authorities said the U.S. Border Patrol and Vermont State Police were alerted in July 2024 about an active arrest warrant seeking Sackal, as an armed and dangerous wanted man.  He was wanted for using a firearm in a dispute with neighbors in Rhode Island and his unlawful possession of high-capacity magazines and non-serialized “ghost guns” in his residence there, authorities said.

A U.S. Border Patrol Agent observed Sackal’s pickup truck in the area of Pittsburg, New Hampshire, and initiated a traffic stop. After briefly pulling over, Sackal drove away, and Border Patrol Agents followed him through Stewartstown, N.H. and eventually into Canaan (Vt.).   From Canaan, Sackal continued north on Vermont 114, where U.S. Customs and Border Protection used a tire-deflation device on his truck due to concerns the suspect might try to cross the border into Canada, officials said.

Sackal then headed south at relatively slow speeds on Vermont 114 driving on the four flat tires and the metal rims, followed by Border Patrol, Customs and Border Protection and the Orleans County Sheriff’s Department.

After about 20 miles, Berlandy, Nash and Mikkola attempted a boxing-in maneuver to stop Sackal’s truck. Instead, he rammed Berlandy’s cruiser and spun onto the shoulder with the front of his vehicle pinned against the driver’s door of the cruiser, trapping Berlandy inside, according to Detective Sgt. Jamess Vooris of the Major Crime Unit.

Sackal fled on foot, firing numerous rounds with one firearm and then opening fire with a fully automatic weapon at U.S. Border Patrol Agents and state troopers, Hill wrote in his detention motion.

“The firing of automatic weapons at any individual poses an intolerable danger to the community,” Hill said.
He added that Sackal directing a spray of bullets toward law enforcement officers when he had a pending arrest warrant should foreclose any consideration of his release on conditions while he awaits trial.

Hill said the weight of the evidence is substantial.

He said Sackal’s trial “will primarily feature video and audio recordings captured on body-worn and dashboard cameras of the officers he was trying to shoot. This factor, too, counsels in favor of pretrial detention,” he wrote.

The prosecutor noted Sackal has no connections to Vermont, except for running from the law into this state and shooting at officers as he did so.  He lives in Rhode Island and has access to property in New Hampshire, Hill said.

Sackal has retained veteran Burlington defense lawyer Mark Kaplan to defend him in federal court.

According to court charges, Sackal assaulted five U.S. Border Patrol agents with a deadly weapon by discharging a privately manufactured 5.56 caliber AR-type pistol, on July 14, 2024.

This AR-type pistol is considered to be a machine gun, which the National Firearms Act requires to be registered and bear a serial number, officials said. Sackal’s weapon was not registered and did not have any serial number, records show.

If convicted of all counts, Sackal faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years, and up to imprisonment for life.

Acting United States Attorney Michael P. Drescher has commended the joint investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Vermont State Police.

“Anyone who discharges a firearm at a federal law enforcement officer will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. I commend the U.S. Border Patrol, Customs and Border Protection, the Vermont State Police, and the Orleans County Sheriff’s Department personnel who pursued and apprehended Sackal on July 14, 2024,” Drescher said.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.

Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).