2 people injured in accidental shooting at Border Patrol checkpoint

Two people were sent to an El Paso hospital after an accidental shooting at the Border Patrol checkpoint at Sierra Blanca.

Rusty Fleming, of the Hudspeth County Sheriff’s Office, said that at about 9:45 a.m. Wednesday a 30-year-old man and his 27 or 28-year-old girlfriend arrived at the checkpoint and were sent to secondary inspection.

At the secondary inspection, the man identified himself as a concealed handgun license holder, and told the agent he was armed.

In the process of either attempting to unload the weapon or engage the safety, the weapon discharged a single shot that traveled through the man’s right hand and his girlfriend’s right thigh.

They were both transported by ambulance to University Medical Center in El Paso.

Their wounds are not life threatening.

The Hudspeth County Sheriff’s Office is investigating, but at this point it does not appear charges will be filed.