Funeral Arrangements Made For Slain FBI Agent

PITTSBURGH --

Funeral arrangements have been announced for an FBI agent killed in an Indiana Township drug raid.

US Attorney General Michael Mukasey has been invited to attend the funeral of FBI Special Agent Sam Hicks and FBI Director Robert Mueller will speak at the service.

Visitation is set for Sunday between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. and on Monday between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. at Schimunek Funeral Home in Perry Hall, Maryland.

The funeral will be Tuesday morning at 11 a.m. at Cathedral of Mary our Queen church in Baltimore.

The Allegheny County medical examiner said Hicks died from a single gunshot wound to the chest.

Hicks, 33, was shot to death at a home on Woods Run Road at about 6 a.m. Wednesday. Authorities are investigating the circumstances between the time law enforcement agents showed up at Robert and Christina Korbe's front door and when Hicks was shot.

Flags were flown at half-staff in tribute to Hicks at the FBI's Pittsburgh headquarters on East Carson Street on the South Side.

FBI Director Robert Mueller came to Pittsburgh from Washington, D.C., on Thursday to meet with Hicks' family and colleagues. Channel 4 Action News' Bob Mayo reports Mueller held two meetings, the first with staff members at the FBI headquarters in Pittsburgh. Mueller then met privately with Hicks' family members.

"He was genuinely upset. I mean, this was just as painful to him as the guys that Sam worked with," said Hicks' sister-in-law, Angela Hohman.

Investigators aren't talking publicly about the probe into Hicks' shooting. But retired FBI special agent and SWAT team leader Dan Ostronic said law and protocol requires agents clearly identify themselves as they raid a home.

Former Agent Speaks To Channel 4's Bob Mayo

"'FBI, search warrant! FBI, search warrant!' As we move from room to room, up stairways, whatever. There might have been two or three agents announcing at the same time in a loud, clear voice," Ostronic said

Ostronic said agents wear raid jackets clearly marked, front and back, with "FBI."

"I can't envision where there would be any confusion on the part of the people inside who it was that was coming in," said Ostronic.

Family Remembers Husband, Father

Hicks' family is clearly struggling with its loss. But family members wanted people to know how much he truly loved helping people, how much he loved being an FBI agent and how much he focused on his family.

Family Remembers FBI Agent

His family said Hicks was living his dream. Hicks and his wife, Brooke, just celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary on Nov. 8. Hicks was working as an FBI agent in his hometown and was about to turn 34 on Thanksgiving. They said the couple were celebrating life with their 2-year-old son, Noah.

"He was a good father," Hohman said.

Hohman said her sister, Brooke ,and Hicks' son, Noah, were her brother-in-law's world.

"God he just loved him so much, and vice versa; they were buddies," Hohman said.

Hicks' loyalty to his family was no surprise to his younger sister, Emily Hicks.

"We had an absent father. So he was kind of a father figure for me," Emily Hicks said.

Emily Hicks said she looked up to her brother and always knew he would make it to the FBI.

"He wanted to make a difference and he wanted to make it better for our children, your children, everyone's children," Emily Hicks said.

It was something Hohman said her sister, Brooke, saw in Sam Hicks from the beginning.

"Brooke and Sam met the same way my parents met," Hohman said.

The couple met while in Ocean City.

"They just happened to be next door to each other… In that summer within those couple months they realized they were soul mates. (They) fell in love then at the end of the summer, Sam said to her, 'If you want me to follow you to Baltimore, I will.' And he did," Hohman said.

The Hicks family was looking forward to their future in Pittsburgh and raising their son together. Now Hohman said her sister is not only struggling with losing her husband in the line of duty, but with how to tell their 2-year-old son he lost his best friend.

"He's just going to be so missed by so many people. He was just an amazing person, an amazing husband and an amazing father. I just ask that everybody pray for that little boy and my sister," Hohman said.

Hicks will be buried just outside of Baltimore where his wife grew up. Brooke Hicks plans to move back there with Noah, to be close to her family.

Drug Suspect's Wife Charged With Homicide

Click here to read more about the charges against Christina Korbe.

Robert Korbe, 39, was one of 35 people charged Wednesday in a 27-count indictment that accuses the defendants of conspiring to traffic cocaine and crack from October 2007 through September 2008.

Robert Korbe has a detention hearing on Monday, at which time federal prosecutors will ask that he remain jailed until trial on the grounds that he is a flight risk and a danger to the community.

Christina Korbe, 40, was not named in the drug indictment. She is accused of firing the shot that killed Hicks.

Both Korbes were taken into custody after the shooting. Authorities later charged Christina Korbe with criminal homicide. She was taken to a hospital with stomach pain and a pre-existing medical condition, then released late Wednesday night and taken to jail.

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