FBI agent fatally shoots kidnap victim during rescue operation

[January 26, 2018]    By Rich McKay

(Reuters) - An FBI agent fatally shot a bound kidnap victim on Thursday during a predawn raid meant to rescue the man from his captors at a home in Houston, The Houston Chronicle and other media reported.

Few details including the deceased man's identity and the motive for the kidnapping were released. A spokesperson for the Houston bureau of the FBI was not immediately available for comment.

The victim was abducted from his home Wednesday in Conroe, Texas, a suburb 40 miles (64 km) north of Houston, the paper reported. He was held in a home in the city's Trinity Gardens neighborhood, media reports said.

The Chronicle reported that the man's brother was called on the phone by someone claiming to be with a cartel and asked to pay a ransom, and the police and FBI were alerted.

FBI spokeswoman Christina Garza said that an agent shot the man shortly before 4 a.m. Thursday and the man later died at the hospital, The Dallas Morning News reported. Garza gave few other details at an afternoon press conference citing an ongoing investigation.

Two men and one woman were arrested on felony kidnapping and other charges and the investigation is ongoing. The FBI agent who shot the man was placed on administrative leave, Garza said at a press conference, media reports say.

(Refiles to make clear the incident happened on Thursday.)

(Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg)

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