Shots fired from Mexico at water district employees near Hidalgo, official says

McALLEN — At least three shots were fired across the Rio Grande last Thursday, nearly striking two men working on a riverside pump station.

The bullets hit Hidalgo County Water Improvement District 3’s pump station, just feet from where the employees were working, about 3:30 p.m., said Othal E. Brand Jr., the water district’s general manager. Both men escaped unharmed.

Brand said Border Patrol agents were called to the scene. A Border Patrol spokesman said there’s no record of the incident, but that wouldn’t be unusual given the circumstances.

Asked how District 3 will react, Brand said he didn’t have an easy answer.

“Well, the old South Texas way is just to give them a gun,” Brand said. “I’ve told them, ‘Y’all want to carry a gun, y’all can carry guns.’”

Border Patrol vehicles frequent the area surrounding District 3’s pump station, located immediately west of International Boulevard near Hidalgo. It’s located south of the border wall on the Rio Grande.

Nearly all Rio Grande Valley cities and utilities depend on local water districts to pump water from the Rio Grande to reservoirs and treatment plants across the region. Employees often work alone at pumps just yards from Mexico’s northern border.

In November, three people crossed the river and threatened a Delta Lake Irrigation District employee who was clearing brush near the district’s pump. They told him to stop clearing brush and said they’d be back later to make sure he’d stopped, said Troy Allen, the district’s general manager.

“They didn’t brandish any weapons, but to him that was threat enough,” Allen said.

Allen said he called Border Patrol, but the men weren’t seen again.

“Since then, we haven’t had any problems,” Allen said.

On Nov. 12, 2009, several men crossed the border and attacked a Donna Irrigation District employee working at the district’s pump, located west of the Donna-Rio Bravo International Bridge. The men broke a window in the man’s car, but he escaped without injury.

The assailants also ransacked the district’s pump station before stealing a cell phone, a small refrigerator and a lawn mower.

“Luckily, they didn’t do any damage to our building or our pump there, though they did take a few items,” said Nora R. Zapata, general manager of Donna Irrigation District.

Such incidents aren’t new for the Valley’s water districts.

A wooden barricade near Hidalgo County Irrigation District 2’s pump shields transformers and other electrical equipment from gunfire, said Sonny Hinojosa, the district’s general manager. It’s been around for at least 16 years.

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Dave Hendricks covers McAllen and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4452.