Two held in death of Coast Guard officer during an interdiction LOS ANGELES, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- U.S. prosecutors charged two Mexican nationals in the killing of a Coast Guard officer who died during a law enforcement operation, the Justice Department said. A federal criminal complaint filed Monday in Los Angeles charged the men in the death of Chief Petty Officer Terrell Horne III, who died Sunday while his boat was trying to interdict a panga boat -- a 30-foot-long open-bowed fishing vessel -- near Santa Cruz Island in the Channel Islands National Park, Justice officials said in a release. Jose Meija-Leyva, who told investigators he was the panga boat's captain, and Manuel Beltran-Higuera were charged with killing an officer of the United States while the officer was engaged in his official duties. Horne, 34, of Redondo Beach, Calif., was killed when the Coast Guard's small rigid hull, inflatable boat was rammed by the panga boat and he and another crew member were thrown overboard, the complaint said. The smaller boat had been deployed from a larger vessel to investigate the panga boat, which accelerated toward the Coast Guard vessel once the officers announced themselves, the complaint said. The Coast Guard vessel tried to steer away from the oncoming panga boat, but the panga boat rammed into the Coast Guard's vessel. Horne was struck in the head by a propeller and sustained a traumatic head injury. The other officer sustained a knee laceration. After striking the Coast Guard's boat, the panga boat fled, the complaint said. Coast Guard aircraft followed the panga boat until it was intercepted about 20 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border, and Meija and Beltran were detained.