Thursday’s hostage-taking of a suspect in Houston began just days after three migrants were kidnapped from a vehicle in a neighboring county, according to a prosecutor.
Prosecutor Sean Whitmore of the Waller County District Attorney’s Office said the three migrants were traveling in a vehicle on Interstate 10 in the southern part of Waller County on March 18 when they were stopped by kidnappers and forced into another vehicle.
The driver of the migrants is believed to have called 911 and notified the Waller County Sheriff’s Office of the abduction, Whitmore said. The sheriff’s office later worked with the FBI, whose agents were involved in a shooting Thursday morning in north Houston that left two people dead.
The kidnappers demanded money from the family of at least one migrant and were paid, but then made more demands, according to a person familiar with the matter. The man said the kidnappers sent family videos, which they shared with law enforcement, that showed the kidnappers were armed and the hostages alive, including one of the hostages beating an older man.
A shootout broke out between FBI agents and the hostage-takers before dawn Thursday, killing one of the kidnappers and arresting another, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they wanted to discuss the case publicly. were not authorized to do so.
James Smith, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Houston office, said during a brief news conference Thursday that agents from the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team were rescuing the migrants, where he took no questions.
Smith said one suspect was fatally shot while another suspect was taken into custody by the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. Senior Deputy Thomas Gilliland, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office, said he could not provide any information on the suspect because the man was arrested by the FBI.
Smith said agents rescued two people who were being held at a motel.
After the news conference, Whitmore told The Associated Press that it was still his understanding that three people had been kidnapped. He referred questions on the discrepancy to the FBI. Smith did not address the discrepancy during his news conference.
Smith said no agents were injured and that an FBI review team will investigate the shooting.
“In the interest of protecting the integrity of the investigation, we cannot provide further details at this time,” Smith said.
The FBI’s Houston office declined to comment on how they found the migrants, what led to the shooting or how many agents were involved.
The FBI said there is no longer a threat to public safety following the shootings.
The abducted migrants had entered the US illegally from Mexico, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Whitmore declined to comment on the migrants’ immigration status, nationalities or whether they were illegally transported at the time of their abduction.
In an email, Tim Oberle, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman, declined to discuss the immigration status of the people, referring all questions to the FBI.