More than 10,000 vehicles travel through the Sierra Blanca checkpoint on a daily basis. The AFOSI referred to the death as a homicide in the media in the early stages of the investigation. A male migrant was fatally shot, a Texas DPS spokesperson said. He and his brother, Mark Sheppard, were arrested, jail records show. Addington said Sheppard was known to get mad at people for speaking Spanish around him, and that hed recently seen that happen at the food bank. He told agents Mike Sheppard fired two rounds from a shotgun. Murder 6.1 Rape 40.7 Robbery 135.5 Property Crimes Calculated annually per 100,000 residents National Burglary 500.1 Theft 2,042.8 Motor Vehicle Theft 284 Residents Diversity B Based on ethnic and economic diversity. No pictures of her in USAF uniform. Border Patrol helped trace the truck and investigators discovered the vehicle was assigned to Mike Sheppard, according to the newspaper. Death on the Border: Were Twin Brothers Hunting Migrants or Wildlife? A new bill would change that, LULAC raises reward amount for info on woman who allegedly lured migrants away from Texas, Hispanic students were once segregated at this school. There are soldiers killing soldiers on American soil. But he did admit that Mary died after they had sex and that he freaked out and stuffed her body into a duffle bag and put her in the trunk of her car. "One male immigrant was shot and killed," their statement read. Six months after her death, no official determination was made as to the manner of death: homicide, suicide, or accident. One migrant was struck in the stomach and transported to a hospital. The killing has prompted outrage among immigrant rights groups, with some tying the shooting to what theyve described as dangerous anti-immigrant political rhetoric. Neely said he had not received any new details about the investigation beyond what has been already reported in the news. Within three weeks, the Lee County Sheriffs Office located McDonald in Corpus Christi Texas with Mounts car, jewelry and credit cards. Sierra Blanca, TX After Mr. Seplvedas death, some of his relatives, including his mother, Luz Mara Martnez Castro, left, his partner, Sandra Lizeth Crdenas Ramrez, and his 6-month-old daughter, Sofa, have been holding a vigil in Ciudad Jurez, Mexico. And so I gave him my blessings, Mr. Seplveda said in a telephone interview. by Alejandro Serrano, Uriel J. Garca and William Melhado At least four immigrants were walking on FM 1111, approximately 15 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, around 7 p.m. local time and had stopped to drink water from a tank on the side of the road, the affidavits state. The Sierra Blanca jail houses male and female detainees who are in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. According to AFOSI, theFBI assistedwith the investigation. Sheriff West was there, too. When they looked to see if the vehicle had driven away, they heard the two gunshots. As a nonprofit newsroom, we rely on members to help keep our stories free and our events open to the public. Was the DNA collected at the scene compared to the national DNA database (CODIS)? You dont really know this man. DPS is also investigating a second shooting incident involving a migrant in Hudspeth County that happened on Wednesday. Warden of Texas immigrant jail fired after arrest for shooting 2 migrants, SAPD calls: Body in flooded creek; man dead after hit by train. The group took cover to avoid being detected when a vehicle approached. The vehicle backed up and the driver got out, leaned on the hood and fired two shots from a firearm at the group before leaving the scene. I said were not talking about you man, and we can talk Spanish all we damn well want., Neely said he had never heard or had any indication that they were terribly racist type people or anything like that.. The migrants later told federal agents they had heard one of the men shout in Spanish for them to Come out, according to the Times report. She was in the Marines. San Antonio Reddit users call out local businesses to boycott, The tragic case of an S.A.-area dentist and his Miami patient, SpaceX will be ready for launch in six to eight weeks, Musk says, H-E-B family listed among worlds richest people by Forbes, SAWS will pay you to rip out 'boring turf', H-E-B family, SpaceX and S.A.s best restaurants top weeks news, Internet says $40 at Texas Roadhouse can last you a week, 5 found shot 'execution style' in home in San Jacinto County. It was higher than in 83.3% U.S. cities. One person was struck in the head and killed. The 'Over My Dead Body' Podcast Is Here to Sate Your 'Dirty John' Withdrawals, 10 True Crime Audiobooks That'll Make You Cancel Your Weekend Plans, Caroline Calloway Tells Her Own Story or, Tries To. A truck with two men inside pulled over and shot at a group of migrants getting water along a road near the town of Sierra Blanca on Tuesday, according to the statement. The FBI El Paso field office said in a statement the shooting happened in the evening of Sept. 27 in Sierra Blanca, Texas. It had to be someone affiliated with the base that either lives and/or works there. Weve gone from you see a few a week to hundreds crossing property it is like nothing anyone has ever seen, she said. Dead airmans family unhappy about lack of progress in case Its been over a decade since the man who was last seen with At AFOSIs request, the FBI sent an evidence response team to process the scene immediately after Airman Luna was found, and the two agencies have continued to cooperate in the investigation. Suspicious death: Student airman with stab wound dies in hospital Blancas momwants answers from military officials, and she wants them to classify Lunas death as a homicide and find the culprit. Domingo Garca, president of LULAC, the largest and oldest Latino civil rights organization says the shootings are the result of anti-immigrant rhetoric displayed by conservative politicians including Texas Gov. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/12/us/migrants-shot-texas.html, Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The New York Times. For days, relatives of the two migrants have been holding a vigil across the Mexican border in Ciudad Jurez, pleading for a full account of what transpired. Employees with Uber and Lyft said theyre not getting paid enough, taking high gas prices and inflation into account. Sheppard began working as a warden in 2015 at the West Texas facility, which has been the subject of several allegations of violence against immigrants, according to The Intercept. Gov. The migrants, who had stopped for a drink of water at a reservoir, told investigators that one of the men yelled obscenities at them and revved the trucks engine before opening fire, according to an arrest affidavit. DeSantis and other officials, Latest statewide poll shows majority of Texans think state is headed in the wrong direction. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android. 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. Mike loves to hunt, the Hudspeth County sheriff, Arvin West, said in an interview at his office, where he displayed an autographed portrait of former president Donald J. Trump. Immigrants told federal investigators that one man yelled out in Spanish for the group to come out, adding profanities to his demand. One man was killed and a woman was injured. I hope and pray justice will prevail. McDonald has been incarcerated in Texas since being found guilty of Felipe Andrades 2005 murder. Sierra Blanca abandoned truck stop was the second scariest place weve stayed. The Air Force cannot guarantee the bases safety when they do not even know who committed the crime. San Antonio first responders received the two calls within moments of each other Friday evening. Mark Sheppard said they thought they had seen a javelina and stopped the truck. The group hid when a truck approached. A county court clerk in El Paso said there were no documents available yet because the men were recently booked. The truck drove toward the group and then backed up before at least one man got out. The affidavit says Mike Sheppard "was reluctant to speak" about the incident and left. A female migrant was also shot but is recovering at a hospital in El Paso, the spokesperson added. They shot me, Ms. Casias can be heard saying, then adding, They are OK. Its just me and another guy. The U.S. Border Patrol is made up of over 19,000 brave men and women who courageously secure our nations borders. She was an Air Force Reservist on temporary duty at Sheppard AFB attending a technical training course for Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC). This is wrong, wrong, wrong.. The Latino advocacy groups also announced it will ask the U.S. Department of Justice to look into the flights that immigrants rights groups claimed were nothing more than political stunts. I know that. Texas Sierra Blanca, the county seat of Hudspeth County, is at the intersection of Ranch Road 1111, Interstate Highway 10, and U.S. Highway 80, eighty miles southeast of El Paso in the south central part of the county. The Hudspeth County Clerks office said Monday afternoon it still had not received any documents and had no case against the brothers formally docketed. We were finishing the meeting when the call came in, he added, speaking of the 911 call about the killing. Eight years later, the case is still considered under investigation and highlights the need for cold case squads in the military. He moved in with Felipe Andrade, a man in his early 60s, who according to news reports had a history of taking in transients. That is a hellhole place, said Gregory Johnson, a former assistant warden at a different LaSalle prison in Texas, describing the West Texas Detention Center. But he waited until last week to create a cartel division at Texas DPS. Sierra Blanca Border Patrol agents encountered an individual by the name of Marouana Bah, a 30-year-old citizen of France, while conducting immigration inspections on board a passenger bus at the Sierra Blanca Immigration Checkpoint. This whole thing is disgusting, and so dismissive of actual victims and their families.". In 2007, a serial killer inspired by Rube Goldberg murdered Lorena Salas, Carlos Aniceto, and Ana Nuez in Sierra Blanca, Texas then vanished never to be She loved the military. The FBI processed thecrime scene and collaboratedwith theensuing Air Force investigation. 'The Heads of Sierra Blanca': True Story or Fiction? "Personally I thought it was the vilest thing I've ever heard in podcast form, unethical and immoral at most, in very bad taste at the very least," one person wrote. Family suspects cover-up in airmans death on base This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent. A spokesperson for the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) said the Hudspeth County Sheriff's Office notified them of a shooting death on Tuesday and reported that a preliminary investigation shows that a truck with two men inside pulled over and shot at a group of migrants standing alongside the road getting water. Michael Sheppard worked as the warden at the West Texas Detention Center, a privately run detention center, until he was fired following his arrest last week. The 22-year-old soon slipped into Texas and, with a group of about a dozen migrants, began traversing the parched landscape east of El Paso on foot. The deputy said Mark Sheppard no longer had a job there. Texas warden, brother accused of shooting 2 migrants - New York Six months later they would be accused of leading the family to believe it was a suicide despite evidencesuggesting otherwise. Upon hearing a truck approaching, the group tried to hide. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Cold Case: Air Force Reservist SrA Blanca Luna Discovered Stabbed to Death in Base Lodging at Sheppard AFB in Texas(2008), Suspicious death: Student airman with stab wound dies in hospital, Texas Air Force Reservist Found Stabbed to Death in Hotel, Indiana Air Force reservist found fatally stabbed in Texas, Indiana Airman found dead at base in Texas, OSI continues to investigate March 7 death, Mother of Murdered Female Airman To Request Meeting on Oct. 3 with Sheppard Air Force Base officials on Status of Investigation, Blanca Lunas mother went to Texas but learned nothing about her daughters death on an air force base, Dead airmans family unhappy about lack of progress in case, Family suspects cover-up in airmans death on base, 5th Anniversary of Unsolved Murder on Sheppard Air Force Base, Find a Grave: Blanca Adriana Luna (1980 2008), Grozinger Law PA criminal attorney orlando fl. The people shot were part of a group of The men initially stated they had been looking for ducks and pivoted to searching for birds before finally looking for javelinas. Racially charged murders happen when we promote language and policies that produce hate, said MALC vice-chair and state Rep. Mary Gonzlez, who is from the El Paso area. Then transferred to AF Reserves. The warden of a West Texas federal jail for immigrants has been fired after he and a brother allegedly shot at migrants drinking water along a roadside in Hudspeth County on Tuesday, killing one and wounding another. His brother stopped the truck and used his shotgun to fire two rounds toward what he thought was an animal. The detention center is in Sierra Blanca, Texas, about four miles north of where the DPS spokesperson said the shooting occurred. A family is mourning their 12-year-old who was hit by a car and killed while crossing an intersection in Lee County on Friday. Authorities later arrested Erick Garibaldi, 26, of Fort Hancock in connection with the shooting. My son did not deserve to die this way, Napolen Seplveda Moreno said in an interview last week. She felt like this is a good thing. They shot us. He said he went to Knapps home and stole several things before fleeing the state, buying a shovel along the way and ultimately burying Mount in Sierra Blanca. Feinberg said McDonald is their suspect but the decomposed remains and the various jurisdictions across many states create difficulties in the case. Sutterfield did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Thursday about those previous allegations or Mike Sheppards continued employment after they were made. The Texas Democratic Party and the Mexican-American Legislative Caucus on Thursday issued rebukes of the incident, and called for immigration reform instead of rhetoric that encourages violence against migrants. According to authorities, Mike and Mark Sheppard both facing manslaughter charges in the Sept. 27 shooting encountered a group of 13 migrants off a rural road south of Interstate 10 just after 9 p.m., stopped their truck and then began shooting at the group. On at least one occasion, Sheriff West filled in as warden at the facility when Mr. Sheppard was out of town, according to the inspector generals report, and some of those who worked with them described the two men as friends. The warden at West Texas Detention Center, Sierra Blanca, TX, has been terminated due to an off-duty incident unrelated to his employment, Sutterfield said. The Lee County Sheriffs Office is holding a press conference regarding an arrest after a deadly Sunday morning shooting in Lehigh Acres. "The division and fear that Greg Abbott and his fellow bigots have created has made Texas a more dangerous place for all Hispanics. The migrants were standing near a water tank along a farm when U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson Landon Hutchens released a statement Friday about the shooting. In Sierra Blanca you have a 1 Texas Austin Music Experience | All Austin musicians and artists | KUTX HD2, Texas Music Experience | Listen anytime at tmx.fm | KUTX HD3, Texas Public Radio | "There was no way for the killers to know who their victims were or what their legal status was," Castro said in a statement. They said they did not go to see if they had in fact hit a target. They initially labeled the death a suspicious incident. I said Mary, I dont know this man. Abbotts lead over Beto ORourke is widening. A K-9 unit sits outside the Hudspeth County Sheriffs Office in 2010. Terlingua Murder Trial Ends With 'Not Guilty' Verdict Surviving migrants told investigators they hid in the brush when the men pulled over in He claimed he and the Lee County Sheriffs Office is actively working on the case, but would not comment on any timeframe for when there would be an arrest. Nearby Border Patrol agents assisted the Hudspeth County Sheriffs Department in locating the truck used during the shooting. Mr. Seplveda suffered a fatal gunshot to the head. Neely said he didnt know Mike Sheppard well, though he had attended multiple meetings with him about a local water shortage that has at times affected the prison. The shooting stunned residents of Sierra Blanca and focused renewed attention on the West Texas Detention Center, a county-owned facility run by a private company, LaSalle Corrections, where Michael Sheppard worked as the warden. A spokesperson for the facility would not confirm the name, but said the warden there had been terminated "due to an off-duty incident unrelated to his employment." Sierra Blanca The area was believed to be haunted by the ghost of an 18-year-old employee, Frank Guzman Jr., who was killed in 1985 while trying to recover a park guest's cap from a roller coaster track.
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