UPDATE: The body of Specialist Bishop Evans has been found near the Mexican side of the Rio Grande.
The Texas National Guard Soldier who went missing this week was trying to rescue two illegal migrants that were trafficking drugs across the border, not helpless migrant women crossing the border illegally.
Specialist Bishop Evans jumped in the river to save migrants as they tried to cross the border illegally by way of the river. Authorities believe that the 22 year old drowned while trying to make the rescue.
Mainstream media outlets reported that the soldier was trying to save a woman who was drowning, however, The Texas Military Department said they were in fact Mexican drug dealers.
Searchers have been trying to recover the body of Specialist Evans for days now. Evans, 22, was a field artilleryman from Arlington, Texas, who joined the National Guard in May 2019.
“With the Texas Rangers as the lead for the continued investigation, the Texas Military Department, Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Parks and Wildlife, and the Border Patrol have tirelessly worked through search and rescue teams in an effort to locate SPC Evans,” the Texas Military Department said in a statement on Sunday. “Dive teams were forced to halt their operations yesterday evening as the river’s current continued at an increased pace, making dive operations very challenging. Search and rescue operations began again early Sunday morning, with the addition of three airboats from the Texas Department of Public Safety.”
Evans had been deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border under Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star.
Evans went missing at about 8:30 a.m. local time on Friday while assigned to Eagle Pass.
Maverick County Sheriff Tom Schmerber said, The soldier took off his gear and ran into the water to rescue a
“The National Guardsman jumped into the river and tried to rescue, and he never came out,” Schmerber said.
The Texas Military Department worked with the Border Patrol and the Texas Department of Public Safety.
News Release From Texas Military Department:
AUSTIN, Texas (April 24, 2022) – The Texas Military Department continues the search for Texas Army National Guard Specialist Bishop E. Evans. A comprehensive interagency search began on Friday morning when SPC Evans went missing following his selfless efforts to rescue two migrants who appeared to be drowning while crossing the river from Mexico into the U.S.
With the Texas Rangers as the lead for the continued investigation, the Texas Military Department, Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Parks and Wildlife, and the Border Patrol have tirelessly worked through search and rescue teams in an effort to locate SPC Evans. Dive teams were forced to halt their operations yesterday evening as the river’s current continued at an increased pace, making dive operations very challenging. Search and rescue operations began again early Sunday morning, with the addition of three airboats from the Texas Department of Public Safety.
SPC Evans, 22, a field artilleryman from Arlington, Texas is assigned to A Battery, 4-133 Field Artillery Regiment in New Braunfels Texas, and joined the Texas Army National Guard in May 2019. He returned in the fall of 2020 from mobilization to Operation Spartan Shield in Kuwait. During this mobilization, his dedication, talents, and tactical prowess led his leadership to regularly assign him to operations in Iraq in support of Special Operations Forces for short periods of time, while then rotating back into Kuwait
