Two people are dead, and one man is in custody and under an immigration hold after a shooting at a fast-food restaurant in Irving on Wednesday.
Police responded to reports of a shooting at about 3:50 p.m. on June 26 at the Chick-fil-A at 5350 North MacArthur Blvd., where they discovered two persons with gunshot wounds. The victims were pronounced dead at the scene by Irving Fire Department medics, per The Dallas Morning News. The gunman had fled the scene before police arrived.
After conducting witness interviews, police identified the suspect as 37-year-old Oved Bernardo Mendoza, the husband of one of the restaurant employees.
“The defendant is the spouse of an employee, who was a witness, and she positively identified the defendant with certainty,” the police affidavit stated, per Newsweek.
The Irving Police Department posted a picture of the suspect and his car on social media and asked the public for help locating him.
UPDATE: We have identified the suspect & need everyone to be on the lookout for OVED BERNARDO MENDOZA ARGUETA, 37 yo. Last seen driving a silver 1997 Honda 4-dr, TXLP#GVH6205. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO APPREHEND OR CONTACT THE SUSPECT, but call 911 immediately if you know his whereabouts pic.twitter.com/oA4ULNlbYX
— Irving Police Dept. (@IrvingPD) June 26, 2024
Just before 3 a.m. on June 27, police located Mendoza and took him into custody.
“We do believe this was a targeted incident and not a random act of violence,” Anthony Alexander with the Irving Police Department told CBS News Texas. “There is no threat to the public.”
Police have identified one of the two victims as 49-year-old Patricia Portillo. The name of the second victim has not been released, pending notification of next-of-kin.
Mendoza has been charged with capital murder, and his jail record shows the El Salvadorean citizen has an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) hold. It was issued by Immigration and Naturalization Service Dallas/Fort Worth, per Fox News.
Gov. Greg Abbott denounced Mendoza’s alleged actions on social media platform X, citing a Fox News report that the El Salvadorean citizen had entered the U.S. illegally.
Another illegal immigrant in Texas on his way to death row.
Suspect in deadly Texas Chick-fil-A shooting in US illegally, ICE confirms https://t.co/5WKnwGrqsO
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) June 27, 2024
A spokesperson for ICE confirmed for Fox News Digital that the agency’s Enforcement and Removal Operations in Dallas “lodged an immigration detainer with the Irving Police Department on Mendoza.”
The Department of Homeland Security issues an immigration detainer when a non-U.S. citizen is being held by a local law enforcement agency and ICE intends to assume custody of the individual after they are released from local detention, per ICE’s website.
“Detainers are critical for ICE to be able to identify and ultimately remove criminal aliens who are currently in federal, state or local custody,” it reads.
Per a DHS report: “Criminal aliens are those convicted of crimes. ICE uses the Criminal Alien Program (CAP) to identify and arrest aliens charged with or convicted of crimes who are incarcerated in Federal, state, and local prisons and jails, as well as at-large criminal aliens who have avoided identification.”
Police are unsure of what led to the fatal shooting, and the incident is under investigation.
In nearby Dallas, 102 murders have been reported so far this year as of June 26, per the city’s Crime Analytics dashboard. The city averages 7.82 murders per every 100,000 residents.
A chronic shortage of police officers has hindered efforts to stamp out crime in Dallas. The Dallas Police Department has approximately 3,000 peace officers, despite a city analysis that recommends 4,000 for a city of its size.
In addition, city leaders designated a $654 million operating budget for the DPD this fiscal year, which is much less than the budgets of other high-crime jurisdictions such as New York City and Chicago.