U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Wednesday publicly identified the agent who died in a helicopter crash near Potrero earlier this week.
Air Interdiction Agent Jeffrey Kanas was killed when a CBP Air and Marine Operations aircraft crashed north of state Route 94 and two miles south of Barrett Lake at around 10 a.m. on Monday, according to CBP. FlightAware's flight tracker shows that the helicopter took off an hour earlier from Brown Field, about 20 miles west.
Kanas — who CBP says joined the agency in 2008 — was the pilot and sole person aboard the aircraft, CBP said.
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His sister, Jenn, spoke to NBC 7 on Thursday and described Kanas as smart, compassionate and someone who loved his family and the skies.
"He loves aviation to begin with, and he loved flying," she said. "I had to actually tell my parents, which was really hard, and my dad was a pilot, too."
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause of Monday's crash, the agency said in a post on X.
