MCALLEN, Texas — Authorities continue to look into a home invasion that turned deadly when the victims fought back, disarmed the gunman, and shot him dead.
Deputies with the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office responded late Friday night to a home on the northeastern part of Hidalgo County, in the city of Elsa, for a robbery in progress, said spokesman J.P. Rodriguez.
When deputies arrived they found the body of a person they believe to be one of the suspects in the robbery, who appeared to have been shot in a struggle, Rodriguez explained.
Preliminary information points to the gunman entering the home for an apparent robbery while three victims inside the house fought to disarm him and ended up shooting him in the act, authorities said.
Authorities are working to determine a motive for the robbery and to see if more gunmen took part in the case. It remains to be seen if the home invasion is tied to any criminal activity.
In Hidalgo County, which is an area that is used as a drug corridor, home invasions have generally been tied to drug or cash robberies. Generally speaking, individuals will stash drugs in a rural home where a rival group will arrive with multiple gunmen and weapons to take the drugs by force. In the city of Alton during November, on the western side of Hidalgo County, a group of gunmen killed a 31-year-old Jose Luis Gonzalez, a human smuggler who had parked at a gas station that was just blocks from the local police station in an apparent effort to follow him home and carry out a home invasion. The ploy appears to have been tied to an attempt to kidnap the illegal immigrants he had in a stash house, Alton police told Breitbart Texas.
Authorities have caught seven people tied to the shooting and charged them with capital murder, however the case has not gone to trial.
Follow Ildefonso Ortiz on Twitter: @ildefonsoortiz