Mother of kidnapping victim slain by FBI agent seeks justice

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The mother of a kidnapping victim who was shot and killed by an FBI agent during a raid still has questions nearly three years after the botched operation.

Ulises Valladares, 47, was shot to death by an FBI agent when law enforcement stormed a house in northeast Houston in Jan. 2018.

Valladares was bound, gagged and taken from his Conroe home the day before. His young son was also bound and gagged, but he was left at the house.

Because it was a kidnapping, FBI agents were involved in the raid at the Houston residence.

The agent said he shot Valladares when Valladares grabbed the agent's gun after the agent broke a window to get inside.

The three kidnapping suspects were all taken into custody at the scene.

The agent's identity was never released. Attorney Randall Kallinen released a statement ahead of a Wednesday press conference.

"FBI Agent Doe, without provocation, fired his weapon through a window in the house where he knew a person or persons were being held up," Kallinen said. "He also knew that one of the persons in the house was the hostage. Whether out of negligence or recklessness, Agent Doe fired his weapon, without provocation; through a window causing the death of the hostage."

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Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said in Oct. 2018 that his department's investigation found no forensic evidence or witness accounts that corroborate the agent's claim of what happened that day.

"Our investigation has determined that the sequence of events as it relates to how that shooting occurred is not supported by the totality of the evidence and the statements in this investigation," Acevedo said at the time.

He didn't go into details because the investigation had been turned over to the Department of Justice, the Office of the Inspector General in San Antonio and the FBI.

Kallinen said the agent involved should be charged in the shooting.

"The FBI alleges it has a clean shooting record when investigating themselves including the last 150 FBI shootings in a row," Kallinen said. "It is now up to the Harris County District Attorney's office to indict the FBI agent for murder, manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide or aggravated assault."

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