Texas National Guard Soldier Missing After Attempting To Rescue Drowning Immigrants

AUSTIN, Texas – The Texas Military Department continues searching for Texas Army National Guard Specialist Bishop E. Evans. A comprehensive interagency search began on Friday morning when SPC Evans went missing following his selfless efforts to rescue two migrants who appeared to be drowning while crossing the river from Mexico into the U.S.

With the Texas Rangers as the lead for the continued investigation, the Texas Military Department, Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Parks and Wildlife, and the Border Patrol have tirelessly worked through search and rescue teams to locate SPC Evans. Unfortunately, dive teams had to halt their operations yesterday evening as the river’s current continued at an increased pace, making dive operations very challenging. Search and rescue operations began early Sunday morning again, with the addition of three airboats from the Texas Department of Public Safety.

SPC Evans, 22, a field artilleryman from Arlington, Texas, is assigned to A Battery, 4-133 Field Artillery Regiment in New Braunfels, Texas, and joined the Texas Army National Guard in May 2019. He returned in the fall of 2020 from mobilization to Operation Spartan Shield in Kuwait. During this mobilization, his dedication, talents, and tactical prowess led his leadership to regularly assign him to operations in Iraq in support of Special Operations Forces for short periods, while then rotating back into Kuwait.