Harwell shooting update: Two of three hunters released

EDINBURG — Hidalgo County Sheriff’s investigators released two of three hunters detained following a shooting at Betty Harwell Middle School Monday evening.

The third, an illegal immigrant, was arrested and is facing several criminal charges, including poaching, trespassing and illegal use of a firearm, Sheriff Lupe Treviño said.

Investigators believe stray bullets wounded two teenage boys as they tried out for the school’s basketball team about 4:45 p.m, Treviño said.

Investigators, however, have not been able to trace the bullets to any of the three hunters yet, he added.

The victims remained hospitalized Tuesday in stable condition, school officials said. A 14-year-old suffered a gunshot wound to the right side of his upper torso, while a 13-year-old was treated for a wound near his right armpit.

Authorities have not released the victims’ identities.

Coaches held the tryouts outside of the school in a parking lot on the campus’ west side because the gym was in use, Superintendent Rene Gutierrez said.

Harwell Middle School, however, occupies a roughly 40-acre plot bordered by hundreds of acres of ranchland leased to deer hunters. A wooded area begins about 400 yards from the school’s western fence line, where investigators believe the stray bullets came from.

Sheriff’s deputies arrested the suspect that remained in custody Tuesday after a pilot aboard a Texas Department of Public Safety chopper spotted him hunting north of the campus with a .223-caliber assault rifle, Treviño said.

Deputies worked to determine how he obtained the firearm as federal law prohibits illegal immigrants from possessing one.

The two other hunters — released Tuesday morning — were detained on land leased to deer hunters that borders that campus’ north and west sides, investigators said Monday evening. Those hunters were target shooting with .30-caliber rifles.

TUESDAY MORNING

Students slowly trickled in Tuesday morning to Harwell Middle School while more than a dozen concerned parents gathered at the school’s library, where administrators tried to answer their questions.

Traffic at the middle school was light, but officials won’t know exactly how many students didn’t show up for classes until later today, the superintendent said.