A convicted human smuggler fired a gun at a federal helicopter and at a Border Patrol agent on the ground who returned fire, critically injuring him, in an incident Tuesday south of Tucson, investigators said.
No federal agents were injured, said Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos, whose agency is jointly investigating the incident with the Federal Bureau of Investigations and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Border Patrol's parent agency.
The suspect, U.S. citizen Patrick Gary Schlegel, 34, was flown by helicopter to a Tucson hospital where he underwent surgery and was listed in serious but stable condition Tuesday night, Nanos said.
Schlegel, a resident of Sahuarita, was first spotted by border agents earlier Tuesday morning with other passengers in his vehicle, Nanos said.
Schlegel initially escaped the border agents, and his passengers fled. But later, around 7:30 a.m., a border agent spotted Schlegel's Dodge pickup truck driving on West Arivaca Road and attempted a traffic stop, Nanos said. Schlegel failed to yield to the agent, prompting a pursuit and later a foot chase after Schlegel exited his truck and ran.
During the encounter Schlegel fired a handgun at the agent and at an airborne helicopter from CBP's Air and Marine Operations unit, before he was critically wounded by the agent's gunfire, officials said.
FBI special agent in charge/Phoenix, Heith Janke, left, and assistant special agent in charge/Tucson, Jon Edwards, listen as Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos speaks at a press briefing Tuesday at the Pima County Sheriff's Department on a shooting involving Border Patrol agents.
The exchange of gunfire happened just south of West Arivaca Road, about 22 miles north of the border, in an area northeast of the town of Arivaca. West Arivaca Road intersects with Interstate 19 about 40 miles south of Tucson.
Schlegel has a "significant criminal history," including an active federal arrest warrant, issued in 2025 by the U.S. Marshals Service, for escape related to a previous human-smuggling conviction, said Heith Janke, special agent in charge of the FBI's Phoenix division.
Schlegel will likely be charged criminally in the District of Arizona on three charges: assault on a federal officer, alien smuggling and felon in possession of a firearm, Janke said.
Court records show in January 2024 Schlegel was sentenced to 36 months in prison following his convictions for human smuggling and being a felon in possession of a firearm. He was later transferred to a Tucson facility, Dismas Charities, that helps offenders reintegrate into society, to serve a portion of his sentence there.
But on Dec. 15, 2025, Schlegel signed out of the facility to attend alcohol counseling and did not return, records show.
The FBI's Tucson field office will investigate the alleged assault on federal officers, while the Pima County Sheriff's Department will lead a parallel investigation into the agent's use of force, which so far appears to have been justified, Nanos said.
Heith Janke, FBI special agent in charge/Phoenix, speaks during a press briefing at the Pima County Sheriff's Department Tuesday on a shooting involving Border Patrol agents.
"In this case, we believe … that agent acted lawfully," Nanos said. "That’s our belief based on what we know today at this moment. The investigation is still ongoing; there may be other things that show up."
Tuesday's shooting comes on the heels of the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis this month, which have prompted large-scale protests across the U.S.
State law enforcement in Minnesota said federal immigration officials blocked the state agency from accessing the crime scene where Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse, was recording immigration operations on his phone before he was shot multiple times by border agents on Jan. 24.
Nanos acknowledged the growing outrage around use-of-force incidents involving federal immigration agents, and he gave assurances that his agency has full access to all evidence and will conduct a thorough investigation in collaboration with the FBI and CBP's Office of Professional Responsibility.
"I understand clearly the sensitivity of these types of events, in today's world and climate," Nanos said. "This case, like any case we deal with, will be done by what we call the rule of law."
The FBI's Violent Crime and Gang Task Force, which includes CBP's OPR and the Pima County Sheriff's Department, has been processing the crime scene, Janke said.
"We have and will continue to conduct witness, victim and subject interviews, review and analyze surveillance footage, and recover and analyze evidence," he said.
The FBI's request for local law enforcement to assist in the investigation is normal, the sheriff's department said in a news release.
"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," the release said.
Tuesday’s arrest echoes some details of the May 2023 arrest that led to Schlegel’s smuggling conviction, court records show.
In 2023 Schlegel was caught on a Border Patrol surveillance camera picking up 16 unauthorized migrants from Mexico and Guatemala at the southern border, south of Arivaca. Agents tracked Schlegel’s truck to the Arivaca area. When a border agent began following, Schlegel abruptly stopped and people jumped out from the bed of his truck. Schlegel then crashed his truck in a wash.
As Schlegel fled on foot, he "yelled angrily and threw rocks" at an Arizona National Guard helicopter hovering above him, the complaint said.
