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Posted by: kwflatbed

EDWINA P. GARZA
Valley Morning Star (Harlingen, Texas)

Wire Services


SAN BENITO -- A drug raid early Friday in La Paloma ended with a Cameron County sheriff's deputy hospitalized with an AK-47 gunshot wound to the mouth and the shooting suspect dead.
The sheriff's deputy, Angel Perez, 28, was in critical condition at Valley Baptist Medical Center-Harlingen after he was shot once in the mouth by a man that Sheriff Omar Lucio said was acting as a bodyguard for the target of the raid, a suspect in a federal drug investigation.
The assailant was shot and killed by officers at the scene. A Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman said the assailant was shot multiple times.
Perez will not need surgery and was responding to doctors Friday afternoon, Lucio said.
The wounded deputy was with DEA agents and SWAT teams from the sheriff's department and San Benito police, who were serving federal arrest and search warrants early Friday at a trailer home in the 3400 block of Leal Street in La Paloma, about a mile south of U.S. Highway 281.
Lucio said that the law enforcement agencies went to the trailer park around 6 a.m. to serve the warrants on David Sepulveda, 36, of La Paloma. Fifteen members of the Cameron County Sheriff's Department SWAT team and 10 San Benito Police SWAT team members were at the scene at the time of the shooting. Lucio said he did not know how many DEA agents were at the scene.
The unidentified shooter emerged from a second trailer home and shot Perez with an AK-47 assault rifle, Lucio said.
"My understanding from SWAT officers is that the individual in the second trailer acted like a bodyguard to (Sepulveda)," Lucio said. "I don't have any information on the individual who started doing the shooting."
Perez, who has been on the force for three years and has a child, was airlifted to the hospital, Lucio said.
Multiple tests were performed on Perez Friday to determine if he would need surgery as a result of the gunshot.
"There's no brain damage, nothing to the head," he said. "They're going to monitor him in the ICU, but he's not getting surgery."
Medical professionals were positive about Perez's prognosis, Lucio said at a Friday news conference. Perez was also responding to commands from doctors to move his arms and hands.
"Our prayers and well wishes go to his family and for that officer," Lucio said.
Although Perez was wearing the body armor required for SWAT team members, his face was not protected, Lucio said.
"Unfortunately, we still haven't come up with anything that covers up the face," he said.
"He's an outstanding young man, dedicated like all our officers," Lucio said of Perez.
The shooter was shot at the scene but Lucio said he did not know if the man, who will be identified by fingerprints, died there or en route to the hospital. It could take weeks to identify the shooter if Sepulveda doesn't identify the man, Lucio said.
It was unclear how many times the assailant was shot or which agency's bullet struck him. Lucio said investigators would be testing the guns to determine which fired the fatal shot after removing lead from the body during the autopsy.
The federal warrants were based on a drug investigation conducted by the DEA, a spokesman for that agency in Brownsville said.
However, the spokesman, who declined to give his name, said he could not provide further information on the investigation.
"We had a federal arrest warrant for one individual residing at that residence and that individual is in custody," the spokesman said. "The individual the sheriff spoke about is still unidentified at this point. Some of the information is still under seal in federal court in Brownsville. I can't provide details on it if it is still sealed," the spokesman said.
Sepulveda remains at the Cameron County Jail in Olmito and a DEA spokesman said he may be arraigned in federal court Monday.
Deputies involved in the incident were allowed to take time off and were offered counseling.
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Earlier versions of this story appeared during the day Friday on the Web sites of the Valley Morning Star, The Brownsville Herald and The Monitor.

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