Records detail Brooks County ranchland melee between immigrant and Border Patrol agent

Posted: Sunday, March 16, 2014 11:45 am
Jared Taylor | The Monitor


Monitor file photo

NEAR ENCINO — Two Border Patrol agents were traveling down Lucero Road about 9 a.m. Wednesday when they slowed down for a pack of javelinas blocking the way.

Agent William Davis noticed they’d passed a path leading into the brush. The agents had been going to swap a battery in a remote surveillance camera, but decided to back up and take a closer look.

Davis would find himself in a melee and managed to avoid two gunshots fired by his immigrant attacker. Details about Wednesday’s assault on Davis emerged in court records filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Corpus Christi.

Davis said he saw a person walking on the trail. He told his fellow agent, Jeffery Havicon, that he thought it was an undocumented immigrant.

Davis got out of the vehicle and went toward the man, who tried to run, but tripped and threw dirt at the agent’s face, a criminal complaint states.

Davis caught up to the immigrant, who said he’d take him to where others were hiding in the brush. He was later identified as Saul Gamaiel Lopez Chile, the complaint states.

Davis and Chile walked along the path until they reached an area “that was enclosed and had limited escape routes,” the complaint says. He asked the immigrant to walk with him back to the Border Patrol vehicle.

Instead, Chile snatched Davis’ .40-caliber Heckler and Koch P2000 pistol. The agent fought back, trying to take his gun back. The two struggled over the firearm, the complaint states.

Two gunshots fired into the ground. The complaint does not say who pulled the trigger, but attorney Rey Merino, who works for the Border Patrol agents’ union, told The Monitor last week that the immigrant tried to shoot the agent. But it wasn't clear how the two shots fired when they were fighting over the gun.

Ezequiel Centeno Melendez, a Salvadoran national traveling with Chile and detained by Havicon, told investigators he heard a man yelling in English off in the distance.

Havicon shouted back. The pleas continued. Havicon and Melendez tracked toward the shouting.

Chile struck Davis several times and tried to choke him while struggling over the gun, the complaint says.

The firearm jammed and its slide was locked toward the rear — making it inoperable, the complaint states. Davis threw the gun to the ground and put both of his arms on Chile, trying to subdue him.

“Agent Davis and Chile fell to the ground and continued to exchange blows,” the complaint states.

The two tried to grab the gun as they wrestled on the ground. Davis started to tire amid the struggle, the complaint states, and Chile tried to choke him.

Davis managed to grab his gun and pointed it at Chile. But it wouldn’t fire.

Havicon and Melendez found Davis and Chile struggling with each other on the ground. Havicon moved in to help Davis, but Chile continued to fight, the affidavit says.

“Davis grabbed Chile’s legs and assisted Havicon in gaining control of him,” Melendez told the FBI agent in his affidavit. “Even though Chile had two Border Patrol agents trying to gain control of him, he continued to resist.”

Melendez told the FBI agent investigating the incident that he met Chile at a stash house in McAllen a few days earlier and that they’d been walking through the brush together. Immigrants routinely track the harsh, sandy ranchlands of remote Brooks County to avoid the Border Patrol checkpoint along U.S. 281.

Chile eventually relented, the affidavit states. Melendez said he motioned with his eyes toward the gun on the ground so the agents knew it was still there.

“Davis gave Melendez the ‘thumbs up’ sign for doing this,” the affidavit says. “The agents did not do anything else to Chile.”

Melendez has been retained as a material witness to Wednesday morning’s assault. Following the incident Wednesday, a Border Patrol spokesman said eight people had been detained.

Chile made an initial appearance before a U.S. magistrate judge on Friday. He remains in federal custody and faces charges of assaulting a federal officer. A detention hearing in his case is set for Wednesday morning in Corpus Christi.

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