On Tuesday, July 3rd, agents from ICE were conducting a surveillance operation near Hargill, in southern Texas.

The surveillance operation was set up in anticipation of a drug transaction that the officers believed to be occurring there in the early morning hours at approximately 3:30 am. During the operation, a Homeland Security agent sitting in a parked vehicle with lights out, was approached by a second vehicle as he was watching the area near the intersection of FM 493 and Cemetary Road.

Shots rang out from the approaching vehicle. The agent, Kelton Harrison, sped from the scene, the second vehicle pursued him and continued to fire at the officer. Harrison lost control of the vehicle, ending up about 50 yards off of the road behind a small row of trees. The pursuing vehicle left the scene.

When other agents arrived at the scene, they found their companion shot one time in the back. The injured agent was loaded into a vehicle and quickly transported to Edinburg, Texas , where he was then tranferred to an ambulance and taken to McAllen Medical Center where he underwent surgery for the gunshot wound. According to reports the agent is expected to survive his wound received in the attack.Reports today, say that Harrison is in stable condition and improving.

Dozens of federal and local officers responded to the scene to attempt to recover spent shell casings and other evidence. Although what it was that lead to officers conducting a consent search on a nearby residence is unclear, that search produced three suspects, 41-year-old Pedro Alvarado and his son 18-year-old Arnoldo Alvarado, and a un-named minor.

The search of the house turned up two illegal aliens from El Salvadore, they have not been charged in connection with the shooting but are listed as material witnesses.

According to reports, the 18-year-old admitted to officers that his father had told him and the minor to get guns because of a suspicious vehicle near their home. He told investigators that he and the minor retrieved a .22 caliber rifle and a 9mm handgun, which they later used to fire at the agents’s vehicle several times while the father drove the vehicle.

It is reported that Arnoldo admitted in his statement that the minor fired a half a dozen rounds into Harrison’s parked vehicle after they approached Him with their headlights off, Arnoldo also told officers that he fired two rounds into the air then turned the handgun onto Harrison’s vehicle as well.

Both Alvarados went in front of U.S. Magistrate Peter Ormsby this morning, they are charged with assault of a federal officer and knowingly using and carrying a firearm during a violent crime. If convicted of these charges they face up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 if convicted on the assault charge and a minimum of 10 years and up to life in prison and up to a $250,000 fine on the weapons count.

The minor was turned over to state authorities.