Border Patrol agents fatally shoot man in Texas after he backed vehicle into agent, official says
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Federal Bureau of Investigation and local police are investigating a U.S. Border Patrol officer-involved shooting that killed one man and injured two in Laredo, Texas, on Friday night.
On Saturday, the U.S. Border Patrol Laredo Sector's Chief Patrol Agent Matthew Hudak announced in a video on the agency's Facebook page the shooting occurred at approximately 9:30 p.m. local time Friday.
Hudak said U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Homeland Security, and Webb County Sheriff's Office intercepted a tractor-trailer in Laredo that was used to smuggle a large number of undocumented immigrants.
He said as agents approached the truck, a car was seen dropping off what he described as undocumented immigrants to load into the tractor trailer. Agents then approached the scene and began to investigate.
"While they were on scene conducting their investigation, another vehicle approached the scene, and as it got close enough to realize the smuggling load had already been intercepted, the driver aggressively put his vehicle in reverse and tried to flee the scene," Hudak said in the video.
Hudak said as the suspect aggressively put his vehicle in reverse, he collided with a parked vehicle and pinned both a U.S. Border Patrol agent and a suspect he was interviewing between both vehicles.
As agents ordered the driver to stop, the suspect continued to push his accelerator to move his vehicle, which further injured the U.S. Border Patrol agent and the suspect he was interviewing, Hudak said.
"Agents from both agencies (U.S. Border Patrol and U.S. Homeland Security) deployed lethal force to stop that threat and to protect the agent and the suspect being injured," Hudak said.
The chief patrol officer said the male suspect driving the vehicle was dead on scene. Two other suspects in the vehicle were injured and sent to the hospital for their injuries.
One of the suspects has since been released and another remains in the hospital for treatment. The border patrol agent who was injured sustained "significant injuries to his legs" and was released from the hospital early Saturday, Hudak said.
Hudak said the incident is being investigated by the Laredo Police Department and the FBI.
"Over the last couple of weeks, we have talked about the very dangerous tactics being used by (human) smugglers," Hudak said in the video. "This is a very dangerous example of those tactics being escalated to an extremely dangerous level. I am very thankful that our agent only sustained minor injuries and the others sustained relatively other minor injuries as well.
"Unfortunately, there was a loss of life in this incident, but agents did what they needed to do to protect their fellow agent and the suspect that was being interviewed."
Follow reporter Meagan Falcon on Twitter: @meaganfalcon
This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: FBI, Laredo police investigate shooting by Border Patrol in Texas
