When Texas state troopers pulled over a driver near Eagle Pass, they discovered he was smuggling an illegal alien wanted for attempted murder.
Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) troopers arrested 42-year-old Honduran national Juan Carlos Rivera Garcia, an illegal alien, late last week, according to a press release. Garcia was wanted in Arapahoe County, Colorado — near Denver — for attempted murder, domestic assault with a deadly weapon causing serious bodily injury, and child abuse resulting in serious bodily injury.
A trooper pulled over a white Toyota RAV4 on U.S. 57 in Eagle Pass, near the Mexican border, for a traffic violation on June 19 just after 9:30 p.m. The driver, 34-year-old Henry Salazar of Austin, was smuggling an illegal alien whom Border Patrol agents identified as Garcia.
Texas DPS released video footage of the arrest.
Law enforcement booked Garcia in the Maverick County Jail. Salazar was also transported to the Val Verde Processing Center in the border town of Del Rio and charged him with “smuggling of persons.”
The Aurora Police Department in Arapahoe County, Colorado, had been hunting for Garcia, according to a Facebook post. The department’s Fugitive Team has been looking for him since early the morning of June 16, after he allegedly “shot his wife multiple times inside a home” near 11500 E. Virginia Place.
Police received the 911 call around 5:45 a.m., Aurora Police Public Information Officer Joe Moylan told The Dallas Express.
Garcia’s wife was taken to the hospital at 5:48 a.m. with multiple gunshot wounds. At the time, officials said she would likely survive.
Garcia fled the scene in an older-model flatbed tow truck with Colorado plates.
Authorities issued warrants for Garcia’s arrest, alleging attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault, child abuse, and “domestic violence-related offenses,” according to the post. Metro Denver Crime Stoppers offered a potential $2,000 reward for his arrest.
The Dallas Express reached out to Texas DPS for comment, but Press Secretary Sheridan Nolen referred inquiries to the Aurora Police Department.
Moylan told The Dallas Express Garcia “does have a prior criminal history,” but he did not see any other active arrest warrants.
“We have been notified of his arrest, and he will be prosecuted locally by the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, pending extradition,” Moylan said.