It happened 20 miles West of Yuma, in a popular recreation area on Saturday morning.

"His personality was to make people laugh and make the job fun for everybody. He was a great agent, I'm sure he was a great father, a great husband and he was a great person for the U.S. to have protecting their borders." says Agent Eric Anderson from Border Patrol's Yuma Sector.

Aguilar was trying to stop two vehicles that entered the U.S. From Mexico. The 32-year-old was placing spike strips on the road when he was hit by the Hummer on the run.

"As he started to deploy it, he didn't notice that the vehicle was coming straight at him. From eyewitness accounts the vehicle actually sped up and swerved toward the agent."

Aguilar died shortly after the impact. The hummer and a Ford truck escaped into Mexico. Aguilar was killed just feet away from tourists and vendors at the Imperial Sand dunes.

The sand dunes are a tourist hot spot where thousands of people ride off-road equipment on any given weekend. But Border Patrol agents say it's also an area used by smugglers carrying drugs and people.

"Most of the smugglers scout that area, they come into the country illegally all the time and they ride around on their quads and they know the best route they can get into the country, the easiest and the fastest and they'll blend in with the people that are out there on the weekends."

Agent Anderson says there's no fence to keep smugglers out and as Border Patrol tightens their grip on illegal crossers, violence against agents is getting worse.

"Whether it's a rock being thrown at somebody, a bottle full of gasoline lit on fire at somebody or a vehicle striking our agents, every single day there is an attack on a Border Patrol agent and this one ended in a death."

Border Patrol is planning a memorial this week. Just one day after Aguilar's death, visitors at the popular sand dunes are feeling the loss.

"I don't think people realize how important they are to us and our safety and whenever we realized what happened, we were both devastated about it," says Tonya Maifield.

Tonya and her husband, Perry,  were among several visitors who added flowers to a makeshift memorial honoring Aguilar.