A 27-year-old Michigan man was killed by federal agents Monday morning after attacking the with an assault rifle at a U.S. Border Patrol facility in McAllen, Texas, injuring one police officer in what authorities said was a purposeful ambush.
Ryan Louis Mosqueda fired dozens of rounds at Border Patrol agents at the Rio Grande Valley Border Patrol Sector Annex connected to the McAllen Airport around 5:50 a.m., according to McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez. Border Patrol agents and local police returned fire, killing Mosqueda before he could enter the building.
Officer Ismael Garcia, a 10-year veteran of the McAllen Police Department, was struck in the knee during the gunfight and is being treated at a local hospital. No federal agents were injured in the attack.
Mosqueda was equipped with tactical gear including a utility vest and carried multiple weapons. Law enforcement found an additional rifle and more ammunition at the scene beyond what he used in the attack.
The gunman had been reported missing from a Weslaco location at 4 a.m., shortly before the shooting began. Police received the call about the attack on the federal building at 5:50 a.m.
Mosqueda was driving a vehicle with Michigan license plates that had been spray-painted with what authorities believe to be Latin text. Police are working to decipher the meaning of the symbols and determine if they are connected to his motive for the attack.
“I do not know what it means, and I do not know if it is the underlying reason why he is here,” Rodriguez said during a Monday press conference.
The incident forced McAllen International Airport to delay all flights and restrict access to the terminal and parking lot as police secured the area and investigated the suspicious vehicle.
Authorities have not determined Mosqueda’s motive for the attack or whether he acted alone. The FBI is leading the investigation into what law enforcement sources describe as a targeted ambush of Border Patrol officials.
“I think I speak for everyone here. The world is much smaller than we think sometimes and it takes events like this to wake up and say ‘you know what we’re tiny in the world’ The threats are always looming, they’re always present and incidents like these make us realize that we’ve always gotta be on guard and keep our community safe,” Rodriguez said.
The Department of Homeland Security confirmed the attack in a statement, saying “This morning an individual opened fired at the entrance of the United States Border Patrol sector annex in McAllen, Texas. Both Border Patrol agents and local police helped neutralize the shooter. This is an ongoing investigation led by the FBI. More information will be shared as it becomes available.”
The McAllen shooting represents the latest in a series of attacks on federal immigration facilities in Texas. Just Friday night, another police officer was shot near U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Prairieland Detention Facility in a separate incident.
In that attack, an Alvarado Police Department officer was shot in the neck around 11 p.m. while responding to reports of a suspicious person. When the officer tried making contact, shots were fired and the officer was struck. The officer was flown to a Fort Worth hospital for treatment and later released. Several armed suspects fled but were arrested with help from the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche addressed the pattern of attacks on federal facilities, posting on social media: “We are closely monitoring the attacks on DHS detention facilities in Prairieland, TX, and Portland, OR, and are coordinating with the [US Attorney offices] and our law enforcement partners.”
“The Department [of Justice] has zero tolerance for assaults on federal officers or property and will bring the full weight of the law against those responsible,” Blanche added.
The attacks come as the Department of Homeland Security reports that assaults on ICE facilities are up nearly 700% over the same time last year, highlighting increased tensions around federal immigration enforcement operations.
The Rio Grande Valley sector where Monday’s attack occurred is one of the busiest Border Patrol sectors in the country, processing thousands of border crossings and immigration cases. The facility targeted is a key operational hub for federal immigration enforcement in South Texas.