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    Father, son charged in shooting of ICE agent in Texas

    Father, son charged in shooting of ICE agent in Texas

    Published July 05, 2012
    Associated Press

    McALLEN, Texas – A father and son were charged Thursday with shooting a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent in South Texas, prosecutors said Thursday.


    Pedro Alvarado, 41, and his 18-year-old son Arnoldo Alvarado are charged with assault of a federal officer and knowingly using and carrying a firearm during a violent crime. Both are expected to appear before a federal judge Thursday morning. They face up to 20 years in prison if convicted on the assault charge and a minimum of 10 years and up to life in prison on the weapons count.


    The agent, Kelton Harrison, was shot early Tuesday morning while conducting surveillance on an anticipated drug deal at a property near Hargill, 25 miles northeast of the border town of McAllen. Harrison required surgery but is expected to fully recover.


    Arnoldo Alvarado told authorities that his father spotted what he considered a suspicious vehicle and told him and another person "to get the guns," according to a criminal complaint. The third person was a minor who was not named in the complaint and has been turned over to state authorities.


    The three got into a car and approached the other vehicle with their lights off. The minor fired six times at the vehicle using a .22-caliber rifle and Arnoldo Alvarado fired twice with a 9-mm handgun, the complaint says.
    Harrison then drove away and Pedro Alvarado chased after him, it says. Arnoldo Alvarado continued to fire his handgun at Harrison's vehicle, the complaint says.


    Harrison eventually lost control of his car and was discovered, shot and injured, by other agents. Authorities subsequently searched a home in Hargill and arrested the two men and the minor.


    Authorities said they also found two illegal immigrants, listed in online records as material witnesses in the case, but did not say if they suspected they were involved in the shooting.


    Attorneys were not listed in online records for either Alvarado.





    Read more: Father, son charged in shooting of ICE agent in Texas | Fox News

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    Pedro Alvarado, 41, and his 18-year-old son Arnoldo Alvarado are charged with assault of a federal officer and knowingly using and carrying a firearm during a violent crime.
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    ICE agent testifies at trial, recalls operation in which he was shot near Hargill

    Delcia Lopez
    FBI agents and Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office crime scene investigators check the shot-out rear window and bullet holes in the front passenger side of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent's vehicle in a brushy area Tuesday July 3, 2012, off Highway 186 and Farm-to-Market Road 493 north of Hargill. Photo by Delcia Lopez/dlopez@themonitor.com





    Posted: Tuesday, March 18, 2014 7:50 pm

    Posted on Mar 18, 2014
    by Ildefonso Ortiz

    McALLEN — Jurors got the opportunity to hear a firsthand account about the night that a federal agent came close to losing his life during a surveillance operation gone wrong.

    On Tuesday morning, Kelton Harrison, an agent with ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations, told jurors about how shortly after 3 a.m. July 3, 2012, he was chased by two vehicles, was shot and crashed into a field where he jumped out of his vehicle and ran for his life.

    Harrison’s testimony was part of the trial against Pedro Alvarado and his son Arnoldo Alvarado, who are facing federal charges in connections with the agent’s shooting. The Alvarados claimed to have mistaken Harrison, who was driving in a Jeep Laredo with no police markings, for a possible home invader.

    Harrison had been called to an area north of Hargill to do a surveillance operation on a tractor-trailer that was being loaded with narcotics, he said.

    He parked his vehicle next to a tree by what he thought was an abandoned home and listened to some sports radio while he looked for suspicious activity near Cemetery Road and Farm-to-Market Road 493.
    Then, the agent testified, two vehicles came at him from opposite sides and he turned his lights on to “let them know he was there,” but then he heard shots and drove away from the area.

    The testimony of the agent got more intense as he recalled that he sped away but was not able to drive faster because his vehicle had a device that kept it from going past 90 miles per hour, Harrison drove in a zig-zag fashion in order to avoid getting hit, but he was struck by a round.

    Soon after, Harrison crashed into a brushy area and thought he heard car doors slamming, so he grabbed his vest and ran for a minute into the brush.

    Since it was dark, Harrison took off his yellow shirt and put on his bulletproof vest in an effort to better conceal himself. Harrison had reached for his ankle holster but didn’t see it and thought he had dropped it somewhere during the pursuit, he testified.

    Harrison went back to his truck soon after in an effort to get his phone and give his location, but because of his wound he was forced to crawl. The agent told jurors that he said a prayer on his way back because he feared for his life.

    On Monday, Harrison had testified that he had left his holster at home in his night stand and was not carrying a gun during the operation.

    “The reason I wear the ankle holster is because it’s so comfortable that it doesn’t feel like you are wearing it,” Harrison said. “I thought I was wearing it.”

    The issue about the agent’s gun has been brought up by defense attorneys Carlos A. Garcia and Oscar Alvarez, who have repeatedly stated that the Alvarados heard shots and fired at Harrison, thinking he had begun shooting — a belief that was further bolstered by a six-hour search for Harrison’s missing gun, Garcia said.

    During his cross-examination, Garcia asked Harrison about his move from the Rio Grande Valley to North Carolina on Sept. 30. Harrison said that near Ware Road and I-2/Expressway 83 his U-Haul trailer opened; it wasn’t until days later that he realized that an army duffel bag with a personal Ruger 9 mm handgun that he didn’t use had fallen off the vehicle.

    When Harrison called McAllen police to make the report of the missing gun, he learned that the gun had been picked up by a passer-by near Cage Boulevard and turned over to Hidalgo police, he said.

    Garcia also asked Harrison about a letter that the agent had written to HSI Special Agent in Charge Janice Ayala complaining about case agent Jean Paul Reneau’s handling of the operation.

    U.S. District Judge Randy Crane allowed Garcia to continue the questions outside the presence of the jury so it could be kept in the court record in case an appeal were to be filed.

    During that questioning, Harrison said that he had complained about Reneau’s leadership style because it was reckless.

    “I complained because I was shot; I nearly died,” the agent said.
    In response to Garcia’s questions, Harrison said that Reneau and their supervisor, Mario Campbell, would meet but not share the information with the rest of the agents, creating some tension within the group.
    Garcia asked if the information was critical to agents’ safety. Harrison replied that he thought it was.

    The attorney asked about the time the group went after a cartel member in regular gear and Reneau showed up to the operation with an assault rifle.

    “We began to feel that he was leaving critical information at times that went to agent safety,” Harrison said.

    Harrison said that Reneau was unprofessional in the office and at times disrespectful.

    “He needed to grow up,” the agent said.

    In the presence of the jury Tuesday, Harrison relayed another anecdote that painted Reneau as unprofessional. Harrison said that on his first day on the job in McAllen, he went with Reneau to Hargill and they were chased out of the area by an unknown vehicle. After the incident, Reneau told Harrison to not mention the incident to anyone, Harrison testified.

    http://www.themonitor.com/news/local...a4bcf6878.html

  4. #4
    Super Moderator Newmexican's Avatar
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    At trial, defense denies that teens fired at ICE agent unprovoked in Hargill in 2012

    Posted: Monday, March 17, 2014 9:34 pm
    Ildefonso Ortiz | The Monitor
    McALLEN — An imaginary drug load and an elusive handgun have been at the center of the trial of a Hargill man and his son, who are facing federal charges in the shooting of a federal agent.

    Pedro Alvarado is accused of driving his blue pickup during the early hours of July 3, 2012, while his two sons — Arnoldo and Marquez, who was 15 at the time — fired a .22-caliber rifle and a 9 mm handgun at the silver Jeep Laredo that had parked near their aunt’s house. Inside the Jeep, Kelton Harrison, an agent with ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations, had been conducting a surveillance operation, but the Alvarados claimed to have mistaken him for a home invader.

    During his opening arguments, Assistant U.S. Attorney Anibal Alaniz described the Alvarados as ruthless drug traffickers who had fired at Harrison without provocation.

    Defense attorney Carlos A. Garcia and Oscar Alvarez painted a different picture, claiming their clients were a blue-collar family who were caught in the middle of a “perfect storm” when a group of scheming drug thieves clashed and law enforcement collided in the small town.

    IMAGINARY DRUG LOAD

    The group of drug thieves had been following the orders of convicted drug trafficker Rene Garcia, a Hargill man who was an acquaintance of the Alvarados and lived nearby, Carlos A. Garcia said.

    Rene Garcia planned on ripping an “imaginary tractor-trailer” full of marijuana that he thought belonged to Weslaco drug trafficker Tomas “El Gallo” Gonzalez and was getting loaded in Hargill, the defense attorney said. One of Rene Garcia’s men, convicted drug trafficker Julio Davila, was not only a drug thief but also an informant for ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations who tried to cover his tracks and called special agent Jean Paul Reneau to tip him off about the drug load, Carlos A. Garcia said.

    Jurors heard the testimony of David Olivares, a drug trafficker who was doing surveillance for Rene Garcia near the location of the trailer but got spooked when he made out the silver Jeep Laredo that Harrison was driving and the blue Chevrolet Silverado that Reneau was in.

    “Rene (Garcia) said: ‘If I can’t have that load no one will,’” Olivares said, referring to his boss’s calls to Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office giving false information about close to 30 men armed to the teeth loading the trailer with marijuana. Eventually authorities learned that the trailer in question had been empty all along.

    Sheriff’s deputies arrived and asked one of the agents about their business in the area, to which Reneau testified that he told his agents to tell them that they were looking for “illegal aliens” because HSI agents at the time had been looking at some corrupt sheriff’s deputies in a separate case.

    During questioning by Carlos A. Garcia, Reneau said that he had called his supervisor and assumed that he had gotten authorization to do the surveillance outside of regular protocol, but it appears that it wasn’t really approved.

    Since Rene Garcia didn’t see or hear the deputies arresting the agents, who he thought were home invaders, he then called Pedro Alvarado and told him that there were suspicious people outside his house, the defense attorney said.

    Jurors had the opportunity to hear from Marquez Alvarado, who recalled being asleep when his father ran in telling him about the suspected robbers in their property.

    The teenager said he was scared because two months prior to the shooting, the family had been subjected to a home invasion by pseudo-cops and his mother had been held at gunpoint.

    The teen said that the three Alvarados drove toward the silver Jeep that was parked by his aunt’s house and that as he got close he heard two shots.

    “I felt scared; I felt someone was going to ambush us, attack us,”
    Marquez Alvarado said, adding that he felt the shots were aimed at him and he fired back two shots with two other shots into the air.

    Marquez’s brother Arnoldo also fired the handgun at Harrison’s vehicle, and soon after the agent fled the area while the family gave chase, trying to find out who had fired at them.

    “Yes, Sir,” the teen said, sounding frightened Monday on the witness stand. “I’ve never been placed in a situation like that.”

    MISSING GUN

    Although Marquez Alvarado said he returned fire after hearing two shots, Harrison maintained that he’d forgotten to bring his gun with him that morning.

    Jurors Monday heard the testimony of Harrison, who said that prior to the failed surveillance operation he had driven close to 20 hours during a family trip and had returned to the area July 2, 2012.

    Harrison went to work with four hours of sleep and after work was told to be on standby for an early morning operation in Roma. When he heard that the operation was called off, Harrison took off his ankle holster and placed his gun in the night stand, Harrison said.

    “I was very disoriented and surprised to get called back. I jumped up and forgot to re-holster my weapon,” the agent said.

    Harrison also said that since he had been on a family trip, he had taken his other handgun out of his vehicle.

    During an exchange between Reneau and Alaniz, Carlos A. Garcia said that Harrison’s personal handgun had been found by Hidalgo police two months after the shooting because it had fallen off a U-Haul that the agent was using to move out of the Rio Grande Valley.

    Harrison’s testimony is expected to continue Tuesday morning.

    http://www.themonitor.com/news/local...a4bcf6878.html




  5. #5
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    Jury deliberates fate of father, son in shooting

    Published On: Mar 21 2014 01:30:15 PM CDT

    McALLEN, Texas (AP) — A jury is deliberating in the trial of a South Texas man and his son who are accused in the 2012 shooting of a federal agent who was on drug-patrol duty.

    Jurors are scheduled Friday to continue deliberating the fate of Pedro Alvarado and son Arnoldo Alvarado, both accused of wounding Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Kelton Harrison.

    Alvarado and his son face charges that include attempting to kill a federal officer.

    Harrison previously testified how in July 2012 two vehicles chased his near Hargill. He said shots from the vehicles wounded him before he veered into a field and fled on foot.

    Prosecutors say the Alvarado family was involved in drug trafficking, but the defense contends the family was suspicious of Harrison's vehicle and reacted out of self-defense.

    http://www.ksat.com/news/Jury-delibe...oting/25088876
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    Father and son convicted in shooting of federal agent


    Delcia Lopez
    FBI agents and crime scene investigators with the Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office examine the shot-out rear window and bullet holes in the front passenger side of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent's vehicle in a brushy area July 3, 2012, off Highway 186 and Farm-to-Market Road 493 north of Hargill.

    Posted: Friday, March 21, 2014 7:39 pm
    Ildefonso Ortiz | The Monitor

    McALLEN — After close to 12 hours of deliberation, jurors found a Hargill man and his son guilty of two out of three charges Friday for shooting a federal agent during a botched narcotics surveillance operation.

    On Friday afternoon, Pedro and Arnoldo Alvarado stood with their hands in front of them as they listened to U.S. District Judge Randy Crane read the verdict.

    The Alvarados had been charged with one count of attempted murder of a federal officer, one count of assaulting a federal officer and one count of using a firearm during a crime. Jurors found the Alvarados guilty of assault and using a firearm, but became deadlocked on the attempted murder charge.


    Crane accepted the partial verdict and declared a mistrial on the attempted murder charge. The judge ordered prosecutors to submit paperwork as to their intention to retry the charge or acquit by Monday afternoon.


    The Alvarado’s youngest son, Marquez, who was 16 at the time of the shooting, was not charged in federal court but is facing attempted capital murder charges in state court.


    The charges stem from the July 3 shooting of Agent Kelton Harrison, an agent with the Homeland Security Investigations division of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Harrison and other agents had been conducting a drug surveillance operation in the Hargill area that night.


    Agents had received a bogus tip that led them to believe that a group of gunmen were loading a tractor trailer full of drugs.


    Harrison had parked under a tree on the Alvarado’s property when Pedro received a call from a drug dealer, who misled him by saying that a group of gunmen were in the area and one of them had parked on his property. Several drug dealers pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy charges in the case last year; the Alvarado’s were never charged in connection with the drug conspiracy.


    “While ICE HSI is satisfied with the two guilty verdicts, we are disappointed the jury could not come to an agreement on the remaining charge — attempted murder of a federal officer,” according to an agency statement. “However, ICE HSI respects their decisions as well as their commitment to the due process of law. Additionally, we would like to thank the USAO for their tireless efforts in the prosecution of this case.”


    After the trial, Arnoldo Alvarado’s attorney, Carlos Andres Garcia, said he was disappointed in the outcome of the case because the jury was not given a clear picture of the series of blunders, lies and half-truths that thrust his client into a situation where he feared for his life and was forced to shoot.


    “I respectfully disagree with the court’s decision to not let us claim self-defense in this case,” Garcia said. “If we had been able to do that as well as present all of the evidence in order to give the jury a clear picture the outcome would have been very different.”


    Garcia and Pedro Alvarado’s attorney, Oscar Alvarez, were not allowed to present before the jury with results of a federal investigation into the shooting, which cast a negative light on the agent who started the drug operation. The findings of the report and questions raised by Harrison were presented outside the presence of the jury and showed that HSI Agent Jean Paul Reneau had failed to follow protocol in the case and had a history of “playing secret squirrel by keeping his men out of the loop in key information that put agents at risk.”


    Alvarez said the case should be appealed because evidence that wasn’t admitted would have played a big role in the jury’s deliberations.


    “We have a small amount of relief that the jury didn’t convict on the most serious charge, the attempted murder charge,” Alvarez said. “This is a case that calls for an appeal.”


    Outside of the courthouse, a dozen members of the Alvarado family hugged and consoled each other as they tried to come to terms with the verdict.


    “We are very disappointed with the verdict,” said Osvaldo Alvarado. “My brother and my nephew are good hard-working people. They are not criminals. They were trying to do the right thing by protecting the family.”


    The decision to get their weapons and investigate an intruder was based in the fact that law enforcement rarely responds to rural areas, Alvarado said.


    “We disagree with the way this case was handled, the agent didn’t have any marking in his vehicle or lights,” he said. “If they knew he was a federal agent, they wouldn’t have shot.”


    http://www.themonitor.com/news/local...7a43b2370.html
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