An off-duty U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer was arrested for allegedly firing nearly a dozen gunshots at a car in a road rage confrontation on an El Paso border highway last month, police said.
CBP Officer Hector Luis Zubia, 34, is accused of lying to police about a roadway shooting while he was off-duty, but in uniform, on the night of Sept. 6 near Downtown, according to a criminal complaint affidavit filed by an El Paso police detective.
Zubia claimed he began shooting because a car driven by an El Paso teenager came toward him, but gunshot damages allegedly indicated Zubia fired from behind “after the threat had passed,” the complaint stated. The car was shot but its driver was not injured.
Threat and imminent danger is required for the use of deadly force. Texas law does not authorize a CBP officer to take police action outside of a border port of entry and Zubia did not have federal law enforcement authority in this situation per CBP legal counsel, a detective stated in the complaint.
Police arrested Zubia on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon on Oct. 17 following an investigation by the Crimes Against Persons Unit that included security camera videos, a witness and ballistic and vehicle-damage evidence.
Zubia was released from the El Paso County Jail that same day on a $250,000 bond, jail logs show. Zubia’s attorney, Francisco F. Macias, could not be immediately reached for comment. CBP has not responded to a request for comment.
Zubia was one of two law enforcement officers arrested by El Paso police on Oct. 17 following investigations into separate road rage shootings last month.
Joseph Andrew Shreve, 30, who was in his El Paso Independent School District police uniform, is accused of shooting at a truck after a collision on Sept. 18 in the area of Loop 375 and Zaragoza Road in the far East Side.
In August, Zubia, who is a CBP emergency medical technician, was featured on social media video by CBP Office of Field Operations highlighting the medical training he used to help a trainee gasping for air from an opioid overdose after a bag of fentanyl exploded when it was found hidden in a spare tire at an El Paso border crossing.
Road rage in Downtown El Paso
The complaint affidavit obtained by the El Paso Times stated the shooting occurred between 10 p.m. and 10:10 p.m. on Sept. 6 when Zubia was driving home after his shift ended at the Paso Del Norte international bridge.
Zubia, who was still in uniform, was driving his silver Ford F-150 east on Paisano Drive when he almost had a collision with a green Saturn Aura driven by Sebastian Cardoza, 19, near the traffic lights at Paisano and St. Vrain Street, the affidavit stated.
The police investigation determined that Zubia and Cardoza both became “engaged in road rage,” the affidavit stated. Security camera video obtained by investigators from Circle K and DK gas stations along Paisano showed the pickup truck and car passing each other.
Zubia told detectives that he accelerated his truck, hit the brakes and moved lanes while going “not very fast 25-30 mph.” He claimed the car hit his truck twice, in the passenger side and in the rear.
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While ahead of the car, Zubia stopped his truck in the middle of the road on the Loop 375 East ramp from Paisano, the affidavit stated. Zubia told police that he got out of his truck, drew his gun and ordered the car to stop. Zubia was armed with his CBP-issued 9 mm Glock 19 pistol with an attached flashlight.
Zubia told detectives that he didn’t intend to shoot and that “it was more of a stop threat” to get the car driver to stop. “I was gunna try to take him into custody because I don’t know what’s going on, why he’s doing this,” he told detectives, according to the affidavit.
Zubia told police that the car went in reverse but was blocked by other vehicles driving up the ramp. The driver then allegedly drove his car at him. Zubia fired his gun and the car drove past, the affidavit stated. Crime-scene investigators collected 11 bullet casings.
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When questioned by police, the car driver, Cardoza, claimed that it was the truck that had “instantly cut him off.” He allegedly admitted taking part in what he described as road rage with Zubia, the affidavit stated.
Cardoza’s account was that Zubia stopped his truck and then his car hit the truck. Cardoza told police that he saw the driver of the truck point a light at him, saw a dark silhouette and didn’t hear anything yelled at him before hearing gunshots and immediately driving away as he was being shot at, the affidavit stated.
Cardoza, who said that he feared for his life, went home and told his mother, who called police.
Witness said truck was aggressor
Detectives spoke with a witness who saw a small car and a big truck traveling on Paisano. The witness told police that “the truck was the aggressor, passed the little car very fast and cutting off the little car.” The truck and car both stopped on the highway entrance ramp. The witness saw the car reversing and then heard gunfire, the affidavit stated.
Bullet holes, damaged vehicles
The teen’s car hood had marks and indentions to its front that officers with the Special Traffic Investigations Unit determined were consistent with hitting the back left side of the CBP officer’s truck, the affidavit stated.
The car had gunfire damage to its right passenger side and the right rear quarter panel in an angle that investigators determined showed Zubia was positioned behind the car while shooting, the affidavit stated.
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Zubia claimed to police that he had stopped shooting when the car passed him. “I’m not going to shoot from the rear,” he told detectives, the affidavit stated.
But investigators also found “bullet strikes” on the tailgate and right passenger side of the CBP officer’s truck, which when combined with the bullet damage on the car indicate that the gunfire continued after the car passed where the officer was standing, the affidavit stated.
Zubia was arrested on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, accused of “unlawfully, intentionally, knowingly or recklessly” committing an assault with a firearm, the affidavit stated.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Off-duty El Paso CBP officer arrested in road rage shooting
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