Posted on 05/06/2007 2:38:31 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
Police say victim was among 15-20 illegal immigrants
A man in a van filled with illegal immigrants was fatally shot Friday night on the Eastex Freeway, and the rest of the occupants drove away after dropping off the victim and three other men, police said.
Arturo Romero Villegas, 49, was one of 15 to 20 passengers in a white transport van with darkly tinted windows operated by Houston-based Transportes Tania. The van was on the feeder road north of Little York around 10:50 p.m. when Villegas asked the driver to pull over because something had "hit" him.
The driver pulled into the parking lot of La Tierra Prometida, a church at the corner of Darwin and Epson, one block east of the freeway.
Villegas' nephew and two other men got him out of the van. He died at the scene from a gunshot wound to the torso.
Harris County sheriff's deputies said that four to six shots were fired from a small, two-door, dark-colored car going north on U.S. 59 North.
"Several people said that at first they thought they were hearing firecrackers," said sheriff's spokesman Lt. John Martin.
Authorities said the passengers are illegal immigrants and were headed to Seattle for work. A description of the van, which now has bullet holes on the left side, has been distributed nationally. It is unknown if the shooting is related to human smuggling.
Luisa Deason, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman in Houston, said that the agency is not involved in the investigation at this time.
Transportes Tania could not be reached for comment.
jennifer.leahy@chron.com
Sniper attack by someone who is tired of waiting for the US government to close the border?
Ruh-roh!
More likely rival coyotes.
But it'd be a safe bet that it is.
How Ironic on so many levels.
Coyote ping!
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
Well, let's not rush into anything...
No kidding, even back in the 60”s you could take a few rounds just for grins driving near that area on Saturday night.
It was a rough part of town when I was a kid.
Hanging our on Darwin Street can easily help you win a Darwin Award.
A church on Darwin Street in kinda funny.
“More likely rival coyotes”
I think so too.
When will the general public rise up and say enough
Ping!
yep saw that and leaving it alone.
Am I reading this right? Why is a description of the VAN being distributed? Does the “company” not know where its van is? How in the heck is there a company in existance whose business is transporting illegal aliens around the country? And if you are going to Seattle, why are you on 59 north? The only possible answer is to get around somewhere known to be on the lookout for vans like these.
Every morning here on I-40 around mile marker 260 there are a couple of drug task force trucks looking for vans like these that “fit the description”.
Just one more needless death because our elected officials won’t get off their posteriors and give this problem the attention it deserves. Most if not all elected officials swear an oath to uphold the US Constitution or the laws of our nation, states, counties and municipalities. Those who aren’t doing so should be shown the door.
Houston doesn’t have an illegal immigrant problem...they have an undocumented worker problem, haa!
I am wondering the same thing. When will the general public rise up and say enough is enough? Probably after Congress passes a bill with some sort of amnesty.
And that does not make us happy I assure you.
Hmmmmm.....vigilantes would have just alerted ICE. Rivalries in the market?
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