Source: United States Department of Justice News
ALPINE, Texas – A Pecos man was sentenced in a federal court in Pecos last week to 180 months in prison for attempted murder.
According to court documents, Alberto Jimenez Pastrana, 35, shot at a vehicle containing multiple people—later determined to be his children and their mother—then crashed into it with his own vehicle and drove away. Pecos Police Department (PPD) patrol officers located Pastrana, who fled at a high rate of speed and led the officers on a vehicle pursuit, shooting at PPD officers and Reeves County Sheriff’s Deputies. Texas State Troopers, along with the other law enforcement officers in pursuit, tracked Pastrana to a neighborhood south of Pecos where he had crashed and took off on foot. He eventually ditched his assault rifle and surrendered in an area that contained empty oil-field chemical containers and abandoned vehicles.
Pastrana was charged in a criminal complaint on Sept. 28, 2022 with one count of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. Pastrana, a convicted felon with four prior felony convictions, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge David Counts to the statutory maximum sentence.
“It was very evident that this defendant tried to end the lives of his own children and their mother with both a firearm and a vehicle,” said U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza of the Western District of Texas. “I greatly appreciate the joint effort and professionalism by our local and state law enforcement partners, who selflessly placed themselves in harm’s way in the pursuit leading to the Pastrana’s arrest.”
The Texas Department of Public Safety Criminal Investigation Division, Pecos Police Department, and Texas Highway Patrol investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Ellis prosecuted the case.
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