ICE agent shot while investigating case in Southern Texas
FBI searching for suspects in shooting of federal officer
HARGILL, Texas – A federal immigration agent who was shot while taking part in a criminal investigation near a rural South Texas town early Tuesday was out of surgery and in stable condition, officials said.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Nina Pruneda said ICE Homeland Security Investigations agent Kelton Harrison was in stable condition at a local hospital following surgery. Harrison was shot while conducting surveillance as part of an ongoing criminal investigation, Pruneda said. He has been working with the agency in the area since 2010.
Harrison was shot by men around 3:30 a.m. near Hargill, about 25 miles northeast of McAllen, Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Trevino said. Colleagues rushed him to a hospital.
Investigators do not have any suspects or a vehicle description, but they are following some promising leads, said Trevino, whose agency is assisting in the investigation.
Texas state troopers blocked several miles of the main road through Hargill. At one end, investigators with metal detectors walked through tall grass around a small white house. Officers from local, state and federal agencies scoured the road for several miles to the north of the house, looking for discarded shell casings and other evidence.
At the north end of the crime scene, an SUV with its rear window broken out sat about 50 yards off the road behind a row of squat trees. Border Patrol agents and other investigators picked their way through grass nearby.
FBI spokesman Erik Vasys said his agency is leading the investigation into the assault on a federal officer, but that any details regarding the incident would likely come from ICE.