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US DEPARTMENT OF STATE
ICE AGENT JAIME J. ZAPATA
Travel warning
Local youth receives memorial scholarship
Feds urge no Mexico travel due to violence By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ LAREDO MORNING TIMES
Amid recent violent clashes and drug lords’ arrest throughout the state of Tamaulipas, the U.S. De-
partment of State updated its travel warning to Mexico on Tuesday saying there’s risk of traveling to certain places, according to reports. State Department offi-
cials said U.S. citizens have reported being victims of violent crimes at the hands of criminal groups in various Mexican states. The warning mentions that people should “defer
all non-essential travel” to Tamaulipas given that violent crimes — homicide, armed robbery, carjacking, kidnapping, extortion and
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Zapata senior Ricardo J. Muñoz receives money for college
STORMY WEATHER
By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ
TORNADOES AND RAIN
Photo by David Kent/The Fort Worth Star-Telegram | AP
Sapphire and Renee Love help clean up Friday after Thursday night’s tornado passed the area, in New Fairview. Strong storms spawned several tornadoes and dumped heavy rain on North Texas overnight, flooding roads and damaging train tracks in an area where a freight train derailed before dawn on Friday, officials said.
North Texas storms prompt flash flooding By DIANA HEIDGERD ASSOCIATED PRESS
DALLAS — One person was killed in flash flooding unleashed on North Texas by a series of severe thunderstorms. Cooke County officials say the body of 36-year-old
Brandon Henegar of Gainesville was found Friday in his vehicle in a remote creek about six miles south of Gainesville. County Judge Jason Brinkley says the vehicle apparently was swept off the road by high water Thursday night.
Brinkley also says severe flooding appeared to be a major factor in the BNSF freight train derailment near Valley View that injured four railroad employees. Meanwhile, Friday afternoon meant a new round of severe thunderstorms
and reports of tornadoes. Law enforcement reported multiple funnels in the Vernon area. Before dawn Friday, strong storms spawned several tornadoes and dumped heavy rain on
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THE ZAPATA TIMES
ICE Special Agent Jaime J. Zapata would have turned 37 years old Thursday. To honor his memory, the nonprofit organization Friends of Jaime J. Zapata presented scholarships to students from Laredo and Zapata during a ceremony held at Guerra Centre Reception Hall. Ricardo J. Muñoz, a senior at Zapata High School, was one of the recipients along with other students from his school in addition to students from Nixon High, Laredo Community College, Texas A&M International University and the University of Texas. “I feel very honored receiving the scholarship. It’s a big accomplishment,” said Muñoz, who plans to attend St. Mary’s University and pursue a degree in the medical field. For Muñoz, Zapata was a hero. On Feb. 15, 2011, gunmen attacked Zapata and a fellow Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. Zapata died in the line of duty while the other agent survived. “Jaime Zapata was brutally murdered in Mexico. The message that we tell these students is that every time you
ZAPATA choose to do drugs … you’re just putting more money into the business of the cartels,” said Rosy Gregory, director of the nonprofit organization. “We believe that if we have educated people, we make a positive difference in (Zapata’s) honor.” Zapata’s parents were on hand giving out the scholarships and meeting the students. Mary Zapata, the agent’s mother, said every year scholarships are awarded according to her son’s age. “I’m very honored that his legacy lives on. The community continues to remember him,” she said. “We’re able to continue to do this and give these awards … to the children who will continue his legacy and remember him.” (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 7282568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
GARLAND TERROR ATTACK
FBI sent out bulletin about gunman before attack By ERIC TUCKER ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Federal investigators learned several hours before a provocative cartoon contest in Texas that a man under investigation for extremist activities might show up and alerted local authorities, but had no indication that he planned to attack the event, FBI Director James Comey said Thursday. The information about Elton Simpson was developed about
three hours before the contest, which the FBI had already identified as a potential target for violence because it involved cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. Simpson and his roommate, both from Phoenix, opened fire outside the Garland, event center but were shot dead before they were able to kill anyone. Simpson, previously convicted in a terrorism-related investigation, had come under new federal scrutiny in recent months related to online posts expressing
interest in jihad. When the FBI learned that he could be heading toward the event, the agency sent an intelligence bulletin to police in Garland, including a picture and other information, “even though we didn’t have reason to believe that he was going to attack the event. In fact, we didn’t have reason to believe that he had left Phoenix,” Comey said. The FBI had been monitoring the event, even establishing a command post at its Dallas field office, based on concerns about
the potential for violence. Drawings such as the ones featured at the event are deemed insulting to many followers of Islam and have sparked violence around the world. Mainstream Islamic tradition holds that any physical depiction of the Prophet Muhammad, even a respectful one, is blasphemous. Comey, making his first public comments on the Sunday shooting, did not disclose steps he said the FBI could have taken to prevent the attack and said those questions were still being
evaluated. But, “what I’ve seen so far looks like we did it the way we were supposed to do it,” Comey said. The FBI director said the attempted attack highlights the difficulties the FBI faces, at a time when social media has helped facilitate communication between potential homegrown extremists, in differentiating between those who merely make inflammatory comments online
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