Sheriff: Deputy shoots illegal immigrant after knife attack near Edinburg (The Monitor)

Sheriff: Deputy shoots illegal immigrant after knife attack near Edinburg
October 25, 2010 11:23 AM
Jared Taylor
The Monitor

NEAR EDINBURG — Sheriff's deputies said they shot a man who allegedly attacked them with a knife late Sunday night.

The incident occurred about 11:58 p.m. Sunday at 6609 Valero Lane near Edinburg, Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Treviño said in a statement. Deputies shot Ubaldo Martinez, 41, once in the lower leg after he allegedly tried to stab another deputy about 20 minutes before at the intersection of Tower and Richardson roads.

That attempted stabbing prompted deputies to chase Martinez when he fled the scene to his residence on Valero Drive.

There, Martinez was found hiding beneath his mobile home. Deputies ordered him to come out.

Martinez crawled out from beneath the home armed with a knife and a piece of wood, deputies said. Deputies told him to drop his weapons. Martinez refused, lunging at the deputies, with one firing two gunshots. One hit Martinez in the leg.

Despite the gunshot, deputies said Martinez continued to attack deputies, tossing rocks and dirt-filled 5-gallon buckets, shattering the windshield of a sheriff's office vehicle during the confrontation.

Deputies eventually subdued Martinez and arrested him.

Investigators said Martinez is an illegal immigrant previously arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in April 2001 and April 2002. Texas Department of Public Safety troopers arrested him for driving while intoxicated in February 2006 and July 2007.

During both DWI arrests, Martinez bonded out of jail before federal authorities flagged him as an illegal immigrant, sheriff's investigators said.

Federal authorities have flagged Martinez as an illegal immigrant, placing a detainer on him for deportation after he faces state criminal charges.

The deputy who shot Martinez has been placed on administrative leave pending a criminal investigation by the sheriff's office officer-involved shooting team and a review by the internal affairs unit, Treviño said.

Treviño refused to identify the deputies involved in the incident "until it is ascertained that their lives are not in danger from retaliation attacks," he said in a statement.

"Family members have stated that Martinez has deep hatred for police officer(s) and had threatened to kill them," the sheriff said.