Alleged home invader shot by 11-year-old remains hospitalized
MISSION — A suspect in a home invasion remained unconscious Tuesday, days after an 11-year-old boy shot him during a break-in early Friday.
Jose Luis Ortega, 26, is receiving treatment at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio for a gunshot wound to his neck, according to the Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office. Local deputies have been assigned to guard him.
Two suspected accomplices in the home invasion already face formal charges in connection with the incident.
Hidalgo County Justice of the Peace Luis Garza charged Fernando Guerrero Padilla, 41, and Jaime Arturo Santana Vasquez, 34, with attempted capital murder and aggravated robbery during an arraignment hearing Saturday. Garza set each man's total bond at $750,000 for the two felony charges.
In the event Ortega regains consciousness, he will be brought back to Hidalgo County to face those same charges, Sheriff Lupe Treviño said in a statement. Investigators, meanwhile, say they are working to identify others who may have been involved in the home invasion.
Deputies caught Ortega, Guerrero and Santana after the trio allegedly broke down the door of a house near the intersection of Minnesota Road and 8 Mile Line shortly after midnight Thursday.
An 11-year-old boy at the home shot Ortega with a .22-caliber rifle as he and another man attempted to ransack the house, according to authorities. One of the men allegedly shot the boy in the groin.
Ortega and his alleged accomplices fled the scene without taking any property, the boy’s mother said in an interview Monday.
Deputies later pulled over a white SUV in which Guerrero and Santana were traveling. The two illegal immigrants were detained for questioning and provided corroborating statements implicating Ortega and themselves in the home invasion, according to the probable cause affidavit in the case.
Investigators said Ortega fled the house on foot and was picked up along Farm-to-Market Road 2221 by a relative and then sought treatment at an area hospital. He was later moved to San Antonio, where the nearest top-level trauma centers to the Rio Grande Valley are located.
Brooke Army Medical Center serves civilian emergency patients as well as military personnel and beneficiaries.
The 11-year-old boy received treatment at an area hospital and was released. His mother said Monday the bullet remains lodged in his right leg.
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Jared Taylor covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4439.
