A man suspected of trafficking weapons for the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua has been charged with capital murder and aggravated kidnapping in Texas. Eiber Gabriel Sira-Vargas, 29, is being held at the Bexar County Jail with a bail set at $2 million following the death of 18-year-old Alexis Jose Vegas, who was found with multiple gunshot wounds on the side of a highway in San Antonio in July.
Sira-Vargas was once detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and is suspected of weapons trafficking in connection with Tren de Aragua, Fox News Digital reported in September. Investigators were led to Sira-Vargas after looking into an alleged robbery.
According to the San Antonio Express-News, an unidentified man told police that he was at an apartment with Vegas and another individual on July 1 when three armed suspects broke inside and forced them into a vehicle. The suspects then took them to a grassy area along U.S. 281, where they were ordered out of the vehicle and shot at the pair.
The unidentified man reported being wounded but pretended to be dead until the suspects left the scene. Tren de Aragua members have been linked to a range of crimes, including murders, rapes, extortion, and kidnapping.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced a $5,000 reward for information leading to the identification and arrest of known or suspected TdA members. The governor has also designated Tren de Aragua as a “foreign terrorist organization” and launched a statewide operation to aggressively go after the gang, which he says has been operating in Texas since at least 2021.
