Inset: Chad Eberle (Lockney Police Department). Background: Eberle after his arrest (Coahuila Attorney General Federico Fernández).
A Texas police officer was arrested in Mexico on claims that he killed three people, critically hurt the mother of his child, and tried to flee back into the U.S. with their 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.
On Tuesday, the defendant was in the Mexican city of Saltillo, in the state of Coahuila. According to local media reports cited by Mexico City newspaper La Razon, he showed up to seek custody of his 3-year-old son.
He was unsuccessful, and upon failing in his mission, Eberle allegedly opened fire on four people. Three people were killed, and the child's mother was critically wounded.
Eberle is accused of then kidnapping his son and traveling hundreds of miles north — where the Mexican city of Piedras Negras borders Eagle Pass, Texas.
Authorities obtained an arrest warrant for Eberle, and he was arrested as he apparently tried to cross the border into the U.S. Fernández, the local attorney general, said the defendant was then admitted to Saltillo Men's Penitentiary.
A local state child welfare agency took the child into its care.
It is unclear how long Eberle was in Mexico before the alleged killings this week. He is a reserve officer of the Santa Anna Police Department, San Antonio ABC affiliate KSAT reported, and is now on unpaid administrative leave as that agency investigates.
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.
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