A shooting outside the office of the Honduran Consulate near Atlanta, Georgia, on Monday left a security guard dead and one person injured.
The shooting occurred around 2:30 p.m., 16 miles north of Atlanta in Doraville, Georgia. The deceased was said to be a Mexican national working as an unarmed security guard at the consular office located at 6755 Peachtree Industrial Boulevard. One person has been detained by authorities and is named as a suspect in the shooting.
According to a statement released late Monday by Eduardo Enrique Reina, Honduras Foreign Relations Secretary, the shooting occurred after an unnamed individual attempted to gain access to the consulate while carrying a firearm. The suspect, according to Reina, was denied access by the unarmed security guard. Despite being shot, the guard managed to lock the door and keep the suspect out.
In his statement, Reina said the suspect in the shooting, detained by United States authorities, was suspected to be a Honduran national. In a social media post on X, formerly Twitter, he clarified that the suspect was of Puerto Rican descent. Reina indicated the suspect may have been at the office to conduct business with his spouse, who is believed to be a Honduran national.
Reina indicated he is in close contact with Honduran President Xiomara Castro and cooperating with Georgia law enforcement agencies. He says the consulate’s staff turned surveillance videos over to Atlanta authorities as part of the ongoing investigation.
Authorities have not provided details concerning a second individual injured during Monday’s shooting. Although authorities did not formally identify the deceased security guard, a report in the Honduran media outlet La Prensa indicated the victim is Jesus Loera, affectionately known as “Chuy” by staff members. The report suggests the assailant’s gunfire struck Loera five times. La Prensa says those at the scene described Loera’s act of returning to the main entrance of the consular office to warn employees and secure the office before succumbing to his wounds as heroic.
The shooting comes as tensions between the United States and Honduras are rising over a future mass deportation plan promised by President-Elect Donald Trump. As reported by Breitbart Texas, Honduran President Xiomara Castro issued a New Year’s Day statement warning the United States that Central American countries may need to reassess the presence of U.S. military forces within the country.
In her address, Castro warned the Trump administration against the mass deportation of Honduran migrants that, as a rule, “offer great support to the North American economy.” Castro emphasized the potential consequences of mass deportations by the Trump administration, saying, “Faced with a hostile attitude of massive expulsions of our brothers, we will have to consider a change in our politics of cooperation with the United States, especially in the military camp where without paying a cent for decades they maintain military bases in our territory, that in this case, would lose all reason for existing in Honduras.”
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @RandyClarkBBTX.
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