Suspected Tren de Aragua gang member in Texas charged with murder, kidnapping
A man suspected of trafficking weapons for the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua has now been charged with capital murder and aggravated kidnapping in Texas.
Eiber Gabriel Sira-Vargas, 29, is being held at the Bexar County Jail with a bail set at $2 million following the death of Alexis Jose Vegas, an 18-year-old who was found face down with multiple gunshot wounds in July on the side of a highway in San Antonio, according to the San Antonio Express-News.
Sira-Vargas was once detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and is suspected of weapons trafficking in connection with Tren de Aragua, Fox News Digital reported in September.
Investigators reportedly were led to Sira-Vargas after looking into an alleged robbery.
An unidentified man told police that he was at an apartment with Vegas and another individual on July 1 when three armed suspects broke inside, the San Antonio Express-News reported.
The newspaper says Vegas and the unidentified man were then zip-tied and forced into the back of a vehicle before being taken to a grassy area along U.S. 281.
When they were ordered out of the vehicle at that location, Sira-Vargas and another gunman in the front passenger seat started shooting at the pair, according to the San Antonio Express-News.
The unidentified man reportedly told investigators that he was wounded but pretended to be dead until the suspects left the scene.
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Members of Tren de Aragua are said to have committed murders, rapes, extortion, kidnapping and other horrific crimes.
Researchers have traced the origins of Tren de Aragua, which translates to "train of Aragua," to the Tocoron prison in the Aragua state in Venezuela, sometime between 2013 and 2015.
According to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Tren de Aragua has been operating in Texas since at least 2021, when gang affiliates were arrested for human trafficking. The governor in September designated TdA as a "foreign terrorist organization" and launched a statewide operation to aggressively go after the gang.
Fox News’ Louis Casiano, Chris Pandolfo, Bonny Chu and Adam Shaw contributed to this report.