By Mike Donoghue
Vermont News First
A hospitalized gunman, who officials say was wounded after firing at a U.S. Border Patrol Agent last month in Northern New Hampshire near the Vermont border, is now due for the first federal court hearing on Friday April 10.
Blu Zeke Daly, 26, also known as Cullan Zeke Daly, of Manchester, N.H. is facing felony charges of attempted murder of a federal officer and assaulting a federal officer with a dangerous weapon in connection with the shooting in Pittsburg, east of Canaan, Vt., federal court records note.
A court affidavit notes Daly reportedly opened fire at the U.S. Border Patrol Agent during the early morning hours of Sunday Feb. 22 when confronted at the closed international port of entry in Pittsburg, which is New Hampshire’s northern most town. It borders Vermont, Maine and Quebec.
The Border Patrol Agent, who has not been identified, returned fire and seriously wounded Daly, the FBI said in court papers. The agent was uninjured.
The case has many similarities with the fatal shooting of a U.S. Border Patrol Agent in Coventry, Vt. in January 2025, including the shooters in both cases are apparently transgender.
Daly had a Massachusetts driver’s license that indicated he was a male, but has since obtained a New Hampshire driver’s license with a female designation, officials have said.
In the Coventry shooting case, Teresa Youngblut, 22, of Seattle, Wash. is facing a possible death penalty – one of two capital cases pending in Vermont. Border Patrol Agent David “Chris” Maland was gunned down as he got out of his cruiser during a traffic stop about 3 p.m. Jan. 20, 2025.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Hampshire petitioned the federal court last Thursday to consider conducting the initial hearing promptly with Daly. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander S. Chen in Concord suggested three options: Daly be brought into federal court, that a court hearing he held with participants in Daly’s hospital room, or to conduct the hearing by video.
Magistrate Judge Andrea K. Johnstone ruled Friday afternoon that Daly’s two-man defense team must provide by April 3 notice to the federal court regarding the appropriate means to conduct the hearing.
The Border Patrol agent reported he was in Stewartstown, N.H. when he initially encountered a gray 2012 Honda Civic with a New Hampshire registration about 11:30 p.m. Saturday Feb. 21.
The driver produced a motor vehicle license. But drove away when asked if Daly used any other names, the agent reported. The agent followed Daly for about a half hour and ended at the Pittsburg port of entry, which was closed and the gate was locked, officials said.
The Border Patrol Agent said he activated the emergency lights in his cruiser and got out of his vehicle. Daley did not get out of his vehicle, but proceeded to attempt to turn around and drive away, court records show.
“Daly fired a handgun at Officer 1 as Daly was turning the subject vehicle,” FBI Special Agent Paul Mullen of New Hampshire. The agent returned fire and struck Daly, who lost control of the vehicle and the car drove into a snowbank, Mullen said.
Medical attention was provided to Daly, who remains hospitalized. While authorities have refused to say which hospital, Daly reportedly is under armed guard at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H., a Trauma 1 facility.
A Smith & Wesson SD9 2.0 handgun and assorted ammunition were seized from Daly’s car after a federal judge approved a search warrant the day of the shooting, court records show.
Investigators also found in the Border Patrol Agent’s car an expended round of ammunition that appeared to be fired by Daly, Mullen said.
The prosecution also is seeking to have the time that Daly is hospitalized to be excluded from the 70-day speedy trial requirement in federal court.
The Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure mandate law enforcement must take a defendant “without unnecessary delay before a magistrate judge” for the initial appearance.
Chen wrote that when the court issued the arrest warrant, Daly was hospitalized, unconscious and in critical condition. That made a hearing impossible, he said.
Daly is getting medical treatment, has regained consciousness and is stabilized, Chen said. Daly also is speaking with family members, medical staff and had conversed with defense counsel twice, Chen wrote on Thursday.
Chen said Daly is capable of participating in a hearing in one of three ways that the government has proposed. He said the prosecution takes no position on any preference.
Chen said there may be questions about competency and the court should follow the procedures allowed under federal law.
He said the government reached out to the two assistant federal public defenders assigned to the case on March 18, but had not responded by March 26.
Daly, if convicted on the initial two felony charges, faces up to 40 years in prison and up to $500,000 in fines.
U.S. Attorney Erin Creegan for New Hampshire has said investigators have been speaking with “people associated with the defendant” to get a sense of why they might have acted in the way that they did, according to WMUR-TV in Manchester, N.H..
“We’re still investigating everything about this individual, including potential motivation and what could have prompted them to be in the border area at that time of night, and what would have caused them to fire at a Border Patrol agent executing routine duties,” Creegan told the ABC affiliate.
When asked about potential ideological motivations, Creegan said all aspects of the case remain under investigation, WMUR reported.
She acknowledged the killing of the Border Patrol Agent in Vermont was linked to members of a group known as the Zizians, whose members are mostly transgender or nonbinary and who advocate an ideology that includes anarchism, veganism and fringe rationalist beliefs. Members in their group have been linked to up to six homicides across the country, records show.
Coventry to Pittsburg is about 70 rural miles apart.
“When you have something happen which targets a Border Patrol agent in that area, it would be a reasonable line of investigative inquiry to determine whether there is any connection to a broader network or group, because that does appear to exist, the allegations that did exist in the murder investigation involving the Border Patrol agent,” Creegan said.