FBI raid ends with Texas kidnap victim dead, three charged in abduction

By Rich McKay

 

(Reuters) - Three people were charged with aggravated kidnapping on Friday in the abduction of a Texas man who was shot in an FBI raid to free him, arrest affidavits released on Friday showed.

 

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said it was looking into whether the victim, identified in the affidavits as Ulises Valladares, who was bound to a chair, was shot by one of its agents as they faced off with an armed abductor in the raid on Thursday in the Houston area.

 

Nicholas Cunningham, 42, Jimmy Sanchez, 38 and Sophia Heath, 35, have been charged with aggravated kidnapping. The charge can bring up to 99 years in prison.

 

Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligon told a news conference on Thursday that the area's U.S. attorney would "be looking at the possibility of a civil rights case brought against, perhaps, an errant shooter with the FBI."

 

The Montgomery County District Attorney's office said in an email on Friday that it does not plan to seek capital murder charges for the suspects.

 

According to the affidavits, Cunningham and Sanchez went to Valladares' home, used duct tape to bind his hands and the hands of his son, then ransacked the place, took Valladares and left the child behind.

 

The child freed himself and went to his uncle's nearby home. The uncle, Ernesto Valladares, was contacted by a person who said his brother had been kidnapped by a Mexican drug cartel. The uncle notified police who, with the FBI, tracked Valladares to the Houston residence where the raid took place.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-01-27

6 hours ago, rooster59 said:

The uncle, Ernesto Valladares, was contacted by a person who said his brother had been kidnapped by a Mexican drug cartel.

Drug cartel. Textbook case of burying the lede.

Texas again.go in with all guns blazing

1 hour ago, mercman24 said:

Texas again.go in with all guns blazing

Well, it was the FEDS doing the shooting.  That it happened in Texas doesn't mean much.  Maybe we should ask all the others the FEDS have murdered in ops over the years.  Standard operating procedure.

There is no situation too benign, where the possibility doesn't exist of getting shot to death when dealing with US law enforcement authorities. Taillight burn out? Yeah, you might get shot to death.

ooops, he wasn't even black

 

 

 

DAVID KORESH?

I can't wait for Trump to tweet that if we had a wall built down the middle of the Rio Grande River, maybe a "floating wall', this would not have happened!

1 hour ago, soalbundy said:

ooops, he wasn't even black

Yes, but perhaps he wasn't white enough either. Right now the FBI is pulling out all stops to find some dirt that will make the death seem less important.