A Border Patrol agent shot and killed a man late Friday who was driving a truck officials believed was being used to transport undocumented immigrants across the border into Texas.
Officials from U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Homeland Security and Webb County Sheriff’s Office stopped a tractor trailer truck in Laredo around 9:30 p.m. Friday as a car full of people were dropped off, seemingly to be loaded into the trailer, Chief Patrol Agent Matthew Hudak said Saturday in a Facebook video.
While the agents began interviewing the suspects, another vehicle pulled up.
“As it got close enough to realize the smuggling load had already been intercepted, the driver aggressively put his vehicle in reverse, trying to flee the scene,” Hudak said.
The driver collided with a parked car, pinning one of the Border Patrol agents and a suspect he was interviewing between the two vehicles.
Other responding officials “deployed lethal force,” Hudak said, fatally shooting the driver.
Two other people in the car were injured in the hail of gunfire; one has already been released from the hospital and another remained hospitalized as of Saturday afternoon.
The trapped agent sustained “significant” injuries to his legs and was also hospitalized, but has since been released.
The condition of the other victim is unclear.
“Over the last couple of weeks, we have talked about the very dangerous tactics being used by (human) smugglers,” Hudak said. “This is a very dangerous example of those tactics being escalated to an extremely dangerous level.”
The Laredo Police Department and the FBI have launched a joint investigation into the shooting.
