A Texas reserve police officer allegedly shot and killed three people and critically wounded his ex-partner at a home in northern Mexico before fleeing with his toddler son, only to be captured at the border trying to cross back into the United States.
Mexican authorities arrested Chad Eberle, 35, at International Bridge II in Piedras Negras, Mexico, on Thursday night as he attempted to reach Eagle Pass, Texas, in a Chevrolet Silverado truck. His 3-year-old son was with him. Officers transported Eberle back to Saltillo, the capital of Coahuila state roughly 55 miles southwest of Monterrey, and booked him into the Saltillo Men's Penitentiary Center.
The Coahuila State Attorney General's office had issued an arrest warrant a day earlier, on Wednesday, citing Eberle's "probable responsibility in the crimes of femicide and aggravated homicide", charges stemming from an Aug. 4 shooting at a home in Saltillo that left three people dead and a 26-year-old woman fighting for her life, the New York Post reported.
Eberle allegedly opened fire after being denied custody of his 3-year-old son on Aug. 4. The dead include two 44-year-olds, one woman and one man, and a 22-year-old woman. Mexican officials have not publicly identified the victims or disclosed their relationship to Eberle.
The boy's 26-year-old mother, Eberle's ex-partner, was shot in the head and critically wounded. Her current medical condition has not been updated publicly.
After the shooting, Eberle allegedly took his son and drove north toward the US border, a distance of more than 180 miles from Saltillo to Piedras Negras. Mexican authorities caught up with him at the international crossing before he could reach American soil.
The child was brought back to Saltillo and placed in the custody of Mexico's Office of the Attorney for Children, Girls and the Family. The Coahuila Attorney General's office said in a statement that "the protection of children is a priority, therefore the child has been accompanied from the beginning and will be transferred in the company of said Institution and a family member to this capital city of Saltillo."
Eberle's employment record spans multiple Texas police agencies. He served as a deputy constable with Bexar County Constable Precinct 2, a law enforcement office in the San Antonio area, from 2019 to 2020. He also held positions with the Bangs, Lockney, Northside ISD, and Somerset police departments, though specific dates for those roles have not been reported. He previously served in the US Army.
The Santa Anna Police Department, a small-town agency in central Texas, hired Eberle as a volunteer reserve officer in November 2025. He worked one weekend shift per month. At the time of his arrest, he was on a personal leave of absence scheduled to last until December.
The city of Santa Anna released a statement to local paper Coleman Today acknowledging the situation:
"The City of Santa Anna has been made aware of a situation out of Mexico concerning one of our Reserve Officers, Chad Eberle, that was on a personal leave of absence until December."
The city added that "due to the ongoing investigation, no other public comment will be made." The statement did not say whether Eberle had been suspended or terminated.
Several basic facts remain unclear. Mexican officials have not explained the victims' relationship to Eberle or detailed how the custody dispute unfolded, whether it involved a formal legal proceeding or a personal confrontation that turned deadly. No US law enforcement agency has publicly commented on the case or indicated whether a parallel investigation is underway.
Under Mexican law, "femicide" is a specific criminal charge applied when a woman is killed under circumstances tied to gender-based violence. The inclusion of that charge alongside aggravated homicide signals that prosecutors view at least one of the killings through that legal framework. Whether additional charges will follow remains to be seen.
Eberle's history of bouncing between multiple law enforcement agencies across Texas raises its own set of questions, ones that small-town departments and the state's licensing system will eventually have to answer. A reserve officer working one weekend shift a month occupies a gray zone of oversight, and the Santa Anna department's terse statement suggests it has little appetite for public accountability right now.
Three people are dead in a foreign country. A young mother is critically wounded. A 3-year-old boy is in the custody of Mexican child welfare authorities. And the man accused of all of it wore a badge in Texas. When someone entrusted with the law allegedly commits this kind of violence, the system that credentialed him owes the public more than silence.
