A man who authorities say was involved in a human smuggling operation was shot Tuesday in an exchange of gunfire with the U.S. Border Patrol and after firing at a federal helicopter near the U.S.-Mexico border, authorities said.
Federal agents were attempting to apprehend the 34-year-old Arizona man during a traffic stop near Arivaca, Arizona, when he fled and shot at a Border Patrol helicopter and at agents, authorities said. Agents returned fire, striking the man and wounding him, FBI special agent Heith Janke said.
The suspect, Patrick Gary Schlegel, was transported to a hospital and was recovering from surgery Tuesday evening, authorities said. Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said during a news conference that he believes the Border Patrol agent involved in the shooting “acted lawfully" based on what is known so far.
“The investigation is still ongoing. There may be other things that show up,” Nanos added.
Prior to the shooting, agents had attempted to stop the same vehicle but the occupants drove away, Nanos said. Later in the morning, a border patrol agent saw the vehicle in the same area and attempted to stop it, but the driver fled on foot.
Schlegel was in federal custody and expected to be charged with assault on a federal officer, alien smuggling and felon in possession of a firearm, Janke said.
Schlegel has a criminal history that includes a December warrant for escape stemming from a human smuggling and firearms conviction, court records show. On Dec. 15, Schlegel signed out of the institution where he had been incarcerated, Dismas Charities in Tucson, to go to a counseling session but did not return, court records show.
Two years earlier, in 2023, Schlegel was charged with transporting illegal aliens for financial gain in Arizona after authorities said he loaded more than a dozen people near the border into a truck, hid them under a tarp and drove away, court records show.
Agents followed the truck before Schlegel crashed and fled on foot, then allegedly threw rocks at a government helicopter before he was apprehended, the records show. Two pistols were found in the truck.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department said the FBI asked it to lead a use-of-force investigation of the Border Patrol. It noted that such investigations are standard when a federal agency is involved in a shooting in the county.
Nanos was unsure if there was body camera footage from the shooting. He said there was video, but did not know where it came from.
Arivaca is a community about 10 miles from the border. The area is a common path for drug smugglers and migrants who illegally cross the border, so agents regularly patrol there.
“Let me be clear, any assault on law enforcement officers will not be tolerated,” said Janke, special agent in charge of the FBI in Phoenix.
The Santa Rita Fire District said it responded to the shooting and the person who was wounded was transported to a regional trauma center.
One level-one trauma center hospital in Tucson declined to release information, and the AP was waiting on a response from another.
The shooting comes in a month that has seen three shootings — two fatal — by immigration officers involved in the massive Department of Homeland Security enforcement operation in Minnesota.
While there were numerous videos of those shootings taken by residents monitoring the enforcement operations in the Minneapolis area, the latest shooting in Arizona happened in a community of about 500 people apparently without any bystander video of the incident.
The sheriff department said its involvement in the investigation was the result of “long standing relationships” built over time in the border area to promote transparency.
Sheriff Nanos, a Democrat, has previously said his agency will not enforce federal immigration law amid President Donald Trump’s crackdown and that he will use his limited resources to focus on local crime and other public safety issues.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not immediately respond to emails and telephone calls seeking more information.
Border Patrol agents fired weapons in eight incidents during the 12-month period through September 2025, 14 times during the year before that and 13 times the year before that.
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Associated Press writers Jacques Billeaud and Sejal Govindarao in Phoenix contributed to this report.