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HIDALGO – Law enforcement officials saw five to seven people leave in a vehicle on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande after Border Patrol agents were fired upon Sunday night. Eight to 12 rounds were fired at Border Patrol agents who were patrolling the river on two boats and agents on the bank after 9 p.m. Sunday down river from the Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge, said Border Patrol spokesman Enrique Mendiola. Agents immediately took cover and they were not hurt. The agents did not return fire. “They immediately took cover because obviously they were somewhat vulnerable there,” Mendiola said. “They...

SAN JUAN—A man campaigning here was rushed to the hospital Tuesday morning after apparently being shot from a passing vehicle. Witnesses said Jose Sanchez, 55, was holding a campaign sign for constable candidate Hector “JoJo” Mendez in front of a polling location at the San Juan Fire Station No. 2, 2301 N. Raul Longoria, when he was shot in the leg about 11 a.m. “He said ‘Oye—they shot me,’” said Leticia Rodriguez, who was campaigning for Mendez’s opponent Martin “Marty” Cantu and helping Sanchez put up a tent shortly before the incident. Witness Ramiro Treviño said he didn’t hear the...

SAN JUAN—A man campaigning here was rushed to the hospital Tuesday morning after apparently being shot from a passing vehicle. Witnesses said Jose Sanchez, 55, was holding a campaign sign for constable candidate Hector “JoJo” Mendez in front of a polling location at the San Juan Fire Station No. 2, 2301 N. Raul Longoria, when he was shot in the leg about 11 a.m. “He said ‘Oye—they shot me,’” said Leticia Rodriguez, who was campaigning for Mendez’s opponent Martin “Marty” Cantu and helping Sanchez put up a tent shortly before the incident. Witness Ramiro Treviño said he didn’t hear the...

McALLEN — Federal agents arrested four people accused of smuggling 131 illegal immigrants found at a stash house near Alton. ICE agents detained the 131 illegal immigrants Tuesday after a raid at a house near Rhode Island and St. Jude streets, outside Alton, said Nina Pruneda, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman. The immigrants found at the house were from Mexico and Central America, and did not require medical attention, Pruneda said. The four people arrested had been expected to appear before a U.S. magistrate judge in McAllen to face human smuggling charges, but no court filings detailing the alleged...

WESLACO, May 10 - The two candidates running for Hidalgo County sheriff offer sharply different views on the threat to the Rio Grande Valley from Mexican drug cartels. At a candidates’ forum on Tuesday, challenger Geovani Hernandez claimed the Valley was “infested with drug cartel members.” He also told the Guardian that his secret weapon in securing victory at the polls could be the Women in Action group that has sought to galvanize residents in Hidalgo County colonias. Hidalgo County Sheriff Guadalupe ‘Lupe’ Treviño said Hernandez’s claims about the level of infiltration by drug cartels in the Valley are greatly...

EDINBURG — Two men face human smuggling charges after authorities detained 115 illegal immigrants who claimed they had been starved and held against their will. Border Patrol agents detained Vicente Ortiz Soto, 24, and Marcial Salas Gardunio, 24, after Edinburg police received an emergency call from inside a stash house Wednesday on the 2800 block of East University Drive. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents named four people, from Honduras and El Salvador, as witnesses kept inside the stash house, a criminal complaint states. They told agents Salas fed them little, locked the illegal immigrants inside the stash house and offered...

ALAMO - A Donna ISD police unit escorted a school bus, as it made stops in Little Mexico. The neighborhood was the scene of a drive-by shooting early this morning. Sheriff's deputies say a juvenile drove by and shot at a group of students waiting at a school bus stop. Two students were hit. One was shot in the abdomen. Witnesses say a bullet grazed another teen's hip. Both students are expected to be OK. Deputies arrested the suspected gunman and a passenger that was in the vehicle. The Hidalgo County sheriff says the shooting was gang-related. CHANNEL 5 NEWS...

MISSION - A driver suspected of human smuggling is expected to face a judge this afternoon. Police say 40 illegal immigrants were crammed in a Suburban and bailed out after a traffic stop. It happened in Mission near Expressway 83 and Stewart Road. Officers caught 22 people, along with the driver. They suspect the driver also oversaw the smuggling operation.

SOUTH OF ALAMO — Investigators performed a walk-through Thursday at a home here to learn more about the circumstances surrounding the shooting of a kidnapping suspect by a federal agent. The procedure is standard protocol for incidents like the one that unfolded Wednesday afternoon at 214 San Bernardino St. south of Alamo, San Juan police Chief Juan Gonzalez said. A U.S. marshal opened fire during a combined effort to rescue a woman and her two young children, who had allegedly been kidnapped by the woman’s ex-boyfriend the night before. Police identified the kidnapping suspect Thursday as Eliseo Alvarado, 19. He...

PROGRESO — Border Patrol agents are searching for a driver involved in a car wreck that sent 12 illegal immigrants to the hospital Saturday morning. Border Patrol agents spotted the vehicle and immigrants about 9:30 a.m. Saturday off a dirt road near Farm-to-Market Road 1015 and Rio Rico Road. Agents called emergency medical services and the Progreso Police Department, according to a statement sent out by Border Patrol. Twelve people went to the hospital for precautionary measures and one refused treatment. The 12 immigrants have been released from the hospital. Saturday’s crash came less than two weeks after two fatal...

EDCOUCH, Texas (AP) — Masked gunmen opened fire during an illegal cockfight at a Texas ranch near Mexico early Thursday, killing three people and wounding eight others in what authorities described as a bloody massacre. The attack at the ranch near Edcouch, a town about 15 miles northeast of McAllen, happened shortly after midnight and sent spectators fleeing from the makeshift bleachers surrounding the fighting ring into the brush. Authorities were searching for the attackers and for clues as to their possible motives, Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Trevino said. Homer Jasso, the justice of the peace for that area of...

Emergency responders rush to the scene of a major accident in Palmview Tuesday night. At least nine people are reported dead, and police believe the death toll is expected to rise. The accident happened just after 10:35 p.m. on Minnesota Road heading east bound on Expressway 83 frontage road. One man who witnessed the crash told Action 4 News once the van lost control “bodies just started flying out” of the van. Sources told Action 4 News the U.S. Border Patrol and Palmview Police were conducting a routine traffic stop on Green Road when the driver of a van suddenly...

HIDALGO COUNTY - Deputies think a kidnapping squad from Mexico is behind the disappearance of a missing Hidalgo County man. The Hidalgo County sheriff briefed us on the case file. Forty-year-old Armando Morfin was taken from his home in north Hidalgo County Friday. He reportedly dropped off his children at school. By the time he returned home, three men were waiting for him. His wife and 4-year-old child were tied up. They weren't harmed. By the time they freed themselves, the men were long gone along with Morfin. His van was found a few hours later on the side of...

Authorities are on the lookout for two former Gulf Cartel members who they believe have been targeted for assassination. Records obtained by Action 4 News show that Gumercindo Gamez-Villarreal and Miguel Garcia-Rodriguez are former Gulf Cartel members. The two men left the cartel but are believed to be hiding out in the Alton and Palmhurst area of Hidalgo County. The records show that both men are believed to have stolen illegal drugs from Gulf Cartel smugglers in the Rio Grande Valley. According to the records, both Gamez-Villarreal and Garcia-Rodriguez have reportedly targeted for assassination by the cartel. Both men are...

EDINURG — A capital murder suspect made his involvement in the kidnapping and slaying of a coworker too obvious when he hid the body at his brother’s property, Sheriff Lupe Treviño said. A passer-by found the body of German Duque Gonzalez, 65, on Feb. 1 under a pile of tires in the 4600 block of Marshall Street north of Palmview. Gonzalez, a baker, left his Alton home at 1 a.m. that same morning to begin his bread-making shift at Valeria’s Bakery in Mission — a routine he had followed for the past two years. He never made it to work....

One man is dead and another is wounded after the Mexican military allegedly shot them while they were fleeing into the United States. It all happened just east of Sullivan City late Thursday afternoon. Law enforcement officials told Action 4 News that the men are believed to have been involved in a gun battle south of the border in Diaz Ordaz, Tamaulipas. Mexican military officials did not cross into the United States during the incident but opened fire on the two men as they fled across the Rio Grande River. Law enforcement said a body was found on the American...

WESLACO - Three people from Afghanistan are in Border Patrol custody in the Valley. Border Patrol acknowledges they apprehended the three Afghanis in the Valley. They were found in two different groups. One was found south of Mission by the river. The other two were found in a stash house north of Moorefield Road. Samuel Freeman, a political science professor at the University of Texas Pan American and expert on U.S. foreign policy, says it's unusual for Afghanis to show up in the Rio Grande Valley. Freeman says the three could be drug runners. He says there's a huge pipeline...

Two men are behind bars after Border Patrol agents caught them smuggling illegal immigrants from Sri Lanka. U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested Juan Lamas III and Junior Garcia-Amador on human smuggling charges on Monday afternoon. Court records show that a Sullivan City police officer pulled over Lamas' 2000 Dodge Neon for a seat belt violation around 2:30 p.m. Monday. Sri Lankan immigrant Ananasekarm Tebanesan was in the back seat while Velupplai Gnanes was in the trunk of the car. Tebanesan and Gnanes told investigators that they waded across the Rio Grande River and waited in the woods for a day....

EDINBURG - Sheriff's deputies are slowly ruling out the possibility a suspected poacher fired the shots that hit two middle school students. A judge charged David Navarro with poaching and criminal trespassing Wednesday. The 26-year-old is in the country illegally. He has been in custody since Monday night's shooting that left two middle school students injured. Court records show Navarro was illegally hunting on a ranch just west of Harwell Middle School. ATF agents are now trying to figure how he got his hands on an assault rifle. Two other men were also detained for questioning. Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe...

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - The recent arrests of three alleged drug gang leaders from Mexico and the shooting of a sheriff's deputy in South Texas are raising fears among some Lone Star State officials that the brutal drug wars plaguing Mexico are taking hold north of the Rio Grande. On Sunday, Deputy Hugo Rodriguez of Hidalgo County in the southern tip of Texas was shot several times when he pulled over a vehicle containing a person kidnapped by members of Mexico's Gulf Cartel, County Sheriff Lupe Trevino said. Rodriguez's bulletproof vest saved his life, Trevino said. "I have always said...