Arizona man accused of human smuggling shot by federal authorities after firing at helicopter, agents: FBI

An Arizona man suspected of smuggling illegal immigrants was shot Tuesday by federal officers during a gunfire exchange Tuesday after he opened fire on a law enforcement helicopter, authorities said. 

The shooting happened around 7:30 a.m. near the town of Arivaca, Arizona, just miles from the southern border, after agents recognized a vehicle that belonged to a suspect related to a possible human trafficking incident from hours earlier in which everyone in the car fled during a stop, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told reporters. 

Hours later, agents spotted the same vehicle and made another traffic stop. The suspect, identified as Patrick Gary Schlegel, 34, fled the vehicle on foot, Nanos said. 

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At one point, he allegedly shot at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) helicopter and at agents, said Heith Janke, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Phoenix Division.

“The individual fired at an Air and Marine Operations helicopter and fired at USBP agents,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “Agents returned fire striking the driver.” 

Schlegal, a U.S. citizen from Arizona, was rendered aid and taken to a hospital where he was recovering after undergoing surgery. He is expected to survive. No one else was harmed, authorities said. 

Schlegal has a “significant criminal history,” Janke said, which includes an active federal arrest warrant issued in 2025 by the U.S. Marshals Service for an escape related to a previous federal alien smuggling conviction. 

He is expected to be charged federally with assault on a federal officer, alien smuggling, and being a felon in possession of a firearm, authorities said. 

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Nanos said he wasn’t sure if the Border Patrol agents involved in the shooting were wearing body cameras. He said multiple shots were fired, but was not sure how many. 

“In Pima County, we’re not tolerating any abuse of a law enforcement officer… any type of abuse, but that goes for our citizens as well,” the sheriff said. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to the fire district, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Department of Homeland Security.

The sheriff’s department is conducting a parallel investigation and is leading the use-of-force investigation involving the agent, officials told the news outlet.

“Such requests are standard practice when a federal agency is involved in a shooting incident within Pima County and consistent with long-standing relationships built through time to promote transparency,” PCSD said. 

Tuesday’s shooting was the second involving Border Patrol personnel in recent days. Alex Pretti, 37, was fatally shot by USBP agents during a confrontation in Minnesota as federal authorities were conducting enforcement operations. 

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It also came weeks after Renee Good was shot and killed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent while allegedly attempting to ram him with her vehicle in Minneapolis. 

Both deaths have triggered citywide protests and unrest, and violent confrontations between federal authorities and anti-ICE agitators. 

In Pima County, Nanos said his department doesn’t enforce immigration law. 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, according to The Associated Press.