Inset: Chad Eberle (Lockney Police Department). Background: Eberle following his arrest in Mexico (Coahuila Attorney General Federico Fernández).
A Texas police officer has been arrested in Mexico after authorities accused him of killing three people, leaving the mother of his child in critical condition, and attempting to return to the United States with their young son.
Chad Eberle, 35, was arrested “for his probable responsibility in the crimes of femicide and qualified homicide,” Coahuila Attorney General Federico Fernández announced. Femicide is defined by the United Nations as a gender-related killing, “the most brutal and extreme manifestation of violence against women and girls,” though it has not been officially codified in U.S. law.
The suspect was in Saltillo, the capital of Coahuila, on Tuesday when the violence unfolded. According to local media reports cited by Mexico City newspaper La Razon, he had traveled there seeking custody of his 3-year-old son.
After that effort failed, authorities allege Chad Eberle opened fire on four people. Three victims died, while the child’s mother was seriously wounded and remained in critical condition.
Investigators say Eberle then took the boy and headed north, traveling hundreds of miles toward Piedras Negras, the Mexican border city located across from Eagle Pass, Texas.
Mexican authorities secured an arrest warrant and detained Eberle as he was apparently trying to cross into the U.S., Coahuila Attorney General Federico Fernández said. After his arrest, Eberle was booked into the Saltillo Men’s Penitentiary.
The child was placed in the care of a state child welfare agency, officials said.
It remains unclear how long Eberle had been in Mexico before the alleged killings. He serves as a reserve officer with the Santa Anna Police Department, San Antonio ABC affiliate KSAT reported. The department has placed him on unpaid administrative leave while it conducts its own investigation.
Eberle was also a deputy constable for Bexar County Constable Precinct 2, and Facebook posts indicate he was a reserve officer for the Lockney Police Department in Texas, too.
The post Cop trying to get custody of his son kills 3 people and critically wounds his 3-year-old’s mom before trying to cross the border with child: Authorities first appeared on Law & Crime.
