[DallasNews] A federal agent reportedly shot a kidnapping victim dead during a predawn raid at a northeast Houston home Thursday.FBI spokeswoman Christina Garza said during a news conference that the man was shot during an "operation" at the house on Elbert Street around 3:45 a.m. He was pronounced dead a short time later at a nearby hospital.
Garza said the FBI could not release any details about the man or the circumstances of the shooting, citing the ongoing investigation, but the Houston Chronicle and KHOU-TV, citing unnamed sources, have both reported that he was kidnapped in Montgomery County on Wednesday.
Several other people, including two children, were at the home at the time of the shooting, Garza said, but no one else was injured. It was unclear whether anyone had been taken into custody.
The agent who killed the man has been placed on routine administrative leave, Garza said.
Houston police said they did not have any part in the FBI's operation, but they are also investigating the shooting.
Neighbor Monique McKnight told the Chronicle that gunfire woke her up. "It sounded like an explosion," she said.
McKnight said agents asked her about the children who lived at the home.
"I have no idea what would be going on in that house," she told KHOU. "A lot of times they didn't have utilities. The lights weren't on, so I don't know how they were living."
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The Houston Chronicle reported that the unidentified victim was kidnapped from a home in Conroe Wednesday by two men with guns who forced their way inside. According to the paper, the victim's brother and 12-year-old son were bound with duct tape.
"[The kidnappers] were demanding money they were owed that nobody knew anything about," Conroe Police Sgt. Jeff Smith told the paper.
Smith added that the kidnappers claimed to have connections with a Mexican drug cartel, but noted there was no evidence that was the case.
"There are oftentimes claims of a cartel connection just to place a fear factor," Smith told the Chronicle.
After the victim's brother received a phone call demanding a ransom, police and the FBI were able to track the suspects to a Clear Lake hotel. Three people were detained and questioned, enabling police to locate the victim in the home.
Police told the Chronicle that a woman in the home was arrested and charged with aggravated kidnapping. Two men detained at the hotel were charged with aggravated kidnapping and aggravated robbery. It was not immediately clear if more charges would be filed.
"This was not a random cartel thing," Smith said. "It appears somebody connected to the family was involved."