By Steve Neavling
An off-duty Border Patrol agent was shot while trying to disarm a gunman outside a taco restaurant in East El Paso over the weekend.
Agent Matthew Ross, 38, of El Paso, was in stable condition at a hospital with a punctured lung and broken rib from a gunshot wound, El Paso Times reports, citing a GoFundMe page.
Ross, who is a member of the Border Patrol Search, Trauma and Rescue (BORSTAR), was shot during a struggle with another man at about 2:45 a.m. Saturday outside Taqueria El Cometa.
On Tuesday, the fundraiser page had reached more than $17,600 in donations, surpassing the $10,000 goal.
As of Monday afternoon, police had made no arrests but are continuing to investigate.
It wasn’t immediately clear what led up to the altercation.
According to the fundraiser, the altercation followed a fight among customers. One of the men left and returned a short time later with a gun.
“Without hesitation, Matthew Ross attempted to intervene to prevent the individual from harming those he was arguing with along with possibly other bystanders in the busy restaurant,” the fundraiser states.
Ross attempted to “incapacitate” the gunman by wrestling him from behind. That was when he was shot in the upper left chest, according to the fundraiser.
