A male migrant walking along a rural road in West Texas died and a female migrant sustained injuries after two men riding a pickup truck opened fire on a group that stopped for drinking water near the town of Sierra Blanca on Tuesday.
The two unauthorized migrants were shot in the evening about 85 miles southeast of El Paso. The men shot the migrants while they stood close to a water tank along a farm road. The male migrant was shot in the head and died. The female victim was wounded in the stomach and is now recovering from her injuries at the Del Sol Medical Center in El Paso.
Apparently, the truck drove by and then stopped and backed up. The truck driver then left the vehicle and fled. According to The New York Times, the vehicle was located parked at a home in Hudspeth County, a rural area east of El Paso that stretches from the border with Mexico to the state line of New Mexico after the shooting.
Michael Sheppard, the warden at a local privately run detention center, and his twin brother, Mark Sheppard, were arrested in connection with the shooting. Michael and Mark, both 60, were taken into custody Thursday, both of them are facing manslaughter charges, according to a statement provided by Lt. Elizabeth Carter, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Public Safety in El Paso. The FBI, U.S. Border Patrol, and the Department of Homeland Security are assisting in the investigation, The Washington Post reported.
The brothers were booked into a detention center in Sierra Blanca, Texas. It is approximately four miles north of where the fatal shooting occurred, ABC News reported. The killing comes amid a sharply escalating national debate over the treatment of migrants. The debate focuses on how to respond to a record number of asylum seekers and other arrivals at the southern border.
In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott has been busing thousands of migrants, who are awaiting immigration proceedings to cities run by Democrats. He said he was doing so to relieve the pressure on resources in often poor rural counties along the border. Earlier this month, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida arranged for 48 immigrants, who had been in San Antonio, to be flown to Martha’s Vineyard.
