Shooting Near U.S. Border Leaves One Mexican Police Officer Dead, Another Injured…and Three Mexican Officers Crossed Into U.S. Territory and Are in Custody

One Mexican police officer is dead and another is in stable condition after unknown attackers shot at them Wednesday on the Mexican side of the U.S. border near El Paso, Texas. During the incident, three other Mexican officers entered into the States and ended up in American custody.

Image source: KVIA-TV

The Juarez municipal officers were on foot when they were shot at multiple times at 1 p.m. in Central Juarez, reported KVIA-TV in El Paso, citing Juarez Police. They were attempting to make an arrest in the area southwest of Paso del Norte Bridge on the Mexican side, reported KFOX-TV in El Paso.

Image source: KVIA-TV

The officers were rushed to the hospital where 30-year-old Victor Eduardo Angel Vargas died. The other officer, whose name was not released, is in stable condition. A teenage girl was grazed by a bullet in the back.

During the multi-agency search for the attackers, three Mexican officers crossed the border into El Paso and were detained by the U.S. Border Patrol. Juarez's binational relations department is working with the Border Patrol to get them released.

Three suspects were detained temporarily, but witnesses were unable to identify them so they were not arrested.

Border Patrol officials told KFOX they are assisting Mexican authorities with the search of a possible weapon dropped in the Rio Grande believed to have been used in the shooting. KVIA reported that no weapon was found in the riverbed.