Thread: Gunmen Who Shot at Texas Rancher Still at Large

Gunmen Who Shot at Texas Rancher Still at Large:

Reported by: Polo Sandoval

Last Update: 3:27 am

March 11, 2011

WEBB COUNTY - The search is on for the men who shot at a South Texas rancher.

State authorities in Austin believe those men were smugglers defending their loads. Deputies working the case aren't sure who the gunmen were.

The ranch foreman was met by a hail of bullets on his ranch north of Laredo. His truck worked as shield taking a bulk of the gunfire and allowing him to shoot back, saving his own life.

"His windshield was busted. At that point he stepped out of his vehicle and shot back with his own rifle. We don't have any injuries. At that time the vehicle drove onto the highway and left," said Assistant Chief Pete Arredondo, Webb County Sheriff's Office.

The two gunmen couldn't be identified. Arredondo believes shootings on border ranches happen more than we know, they just go unreported.

"This is the very first one we've actually responded to where it was actually some damage to a vehicle and someone was on somebody's property," he added.

Romeo Uribe's farms is close to where the shooting happened. He's seeing ranchers give up and move to the relative safety a city can provide.

"People are giving up their professions. Selling their land in some cases and giving up their jobs and way of life," said Uribe.

The peace Uribe once found along these banks is gone.

"Now if you go down to river you set off sensors and border patrol is checking you out or pd or possibly the bad guys are looking at you," he said. "It's very hard. Very difficult now because we live in fear."

Sheriffs deputies recommend landowners not confront suspicious individuals on their ranches. They say it's better to pick up the phone and call the closest authorities, like the border patrol.

http://www.krgv.com/news/local/story/Gu ... 7U4uA.cspx

It was stated that border ranchers are safer than they pretends to be?