Deputies: Suspect claims he shot victims because they harassed him

NEAR ELSA - A rural Elsa man told authorities that a pair of men had been harassing him outside his home.

So the man fired his .22 caliber rifle at the two men, sending one to the hospital with serious injuries, Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Treviño said.

The shooting occurred about 5 p.m. Wednesday just east of the intersection of Mile 16 North and Mile 6 West roads near Elsa.

Two men in a 2000 Ford Ranger pickup truck pulled up outside Zeleqayh Garcia's house, where he sat on the front porch. Garcia, 21, told deputies the men, 21-year-old Gabriel Alvarado and Alvaro Saenz, 23, were verbally harassing him.

Witnesses told deputies that Garcia then opened fire on the pickup truck, striking Gabriel Alvarado in his torso. A second gunshot went through the pickup truck's door and hit him in the leg.

Alvarado was rushed to Knapp Medical Center in Weslaco, where he remained Thursday morning. Saenz was not injured in the shooting. the sheriff said.

Deputies arrested Garcia and transported him to the Hidalgo County Jail, where he awaits criminal attempted murder charges, Treviño said.

"There was absolutely no evidence to indicate that neither Alvarado nor Saenz exhibited any deadly force or in any way threatened Mr. Garcia," the sheriff said.