Authorities say the suspect in a deadly Texas shooting that killed two people inside a fast-food restaurant is in custody, and that he is in the United States illegally.
Oved Bernardo Mendoza Argueta, a 37-year-old citizen of El Salvador, is charged with capital murder of multiple persons after a shooting Wednesday at a Chick-fil-A in the 5300 block of North MacArthur Boulevard in Irving, police announced.
“We can confirm that the suspect was taken into custody early this morning,” a spokesperson for Irving Police Department told Fox News Digital on Thursday morning, adding that Mendoza Argueta has an “ICE hold,” with the warrant agency being Immigration and Naturalization Service Dallas/Fort Worth.
An ICE spokesperson confirmed to Fox News Digital that the agency’s Enforcement and Removal Operations in Dallas “lodged an immigration detainer with the Irving Police Department on Mendoza.” Such detainers are for noncitizens accused of a crime and who have been apprehended by police.
The shooting happened around 3:40 p.m., according to an arrest warrant that identified one of the victims as Patricia Portillo. The document states Mendoza Argueta is the spouse of a Chick-fil-A employee who was a witness and “identified the defendant with certainty.”
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Police say the second victim’s name was redacted from the document due to next-of-kin notification needing to be made.
During the manhunt, police released a photograph of Mendoza Argueta alongside a picture of the 1997 Honda 4-door car he was last seen driving.
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An official said they believed the shooting was “a targeted incident and that this was not a random act of violence.”
Television footage showed that screens had been placed in front of some of the windows at a Chick-fil-A restaurant, and several police cars were in the parking lot, which was blocked off.
Chick-fil-A did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Fox News’ Andrea Vacchiano and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
