Falcon Lake Shooting: David Michael Hartley Feared Dead

by Amy Judd | October 1, 2010 at 09:36 am

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David Michael Hartley Was Shot By Mexican Pirates on Falcon Lake on Thursday and Police Fear He is Dead

Hartley, 30, was jet skiing with his wife on the Mexican side of Falcon Lake when he was reportedly shot in the head by Mexican pirates. His wife Tiffany Hartley tried to save him, but had to retreat back to American waters when she heard bullets whizzing by her.

Search teams are still looking for Mr. Hartley on Friday but it is feared he is dead. It is thought that the couple were on the Mexican side to take pictures of a famous church in Old Guerrero and were on their way back when they saw the armed gunmen on boats. It is thought that one of the boats strayed briefly into U.S. waters when it was trying to run down Mrs Hartley.

The gunmen are suspected to be Mexican pirates, whose activity on Falcon Lake, which spans the U.S. and Mexico border, has increased over the past year. There have not been any shootings this year, and it is not known why the pirates fired at Mr. Hartley and his wife.

Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez spoke to the Associated Press:

Gonzalez said he had contacted the Mexican consulate to ask them to search for Hartley on its side of the lake.

"I'm not trying to place the blame on her or him," Gonzalez said. "But we've told people not to go over there, and now this happens."

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department are going to issue a fresh warning to boaters and lake-goers to stay on the U.S side of the lake.

Violence on the Mexican side of the lake has been climbing for several months, as a fractured partnership between the region's dominant Gulf Cartel and its former enforcers, the Zetas, plunged many of the area's Mexican border cities into violence.