Judge awards nearly US$2M after concluding FBI agent was negligent in shooting kidnapped Texas man

An FBI seal is displayed on a podium before a news conference at the field office in Portland, Ore., Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)

HOUSTON (AP) — A federal judge has awarded nearly US$2 million in damages as part of a civil lawsuit after concluding an FBI agent was negligent when he fatally shot a kidnapped Texas man during a botched rescue attempt in 2018.

The family of 47-year-old Ulises Valladares filed a lawsuit in Houston federal court alleging their loved one had been helpless as he was bound and blindfolded when FBI agent Gavin Lappe shot him shot in January 2018 as authorities entered a home where the man was being held.

The FBI agent had told investigators he only fired when he thought a kidnapper had grabbed his rifle after the agent broke a window to get inside and didn’t know he was shooting Valladares, who had lived in suburban Houston.

But in a 10-page judgment issued on Monday, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt in Houston found that Lappe “was negligent, even grossly negligent, in his response” during the rescue attempt, and he was the sole cause of Valladares’ death.

Hoyt wrote that Lappe fired at a silhouette in the window without knowing who he was shooting at and did so when there was no direct threat to him or another agent who was nearby.

The judgement by Hoyt was first reported by the Houston Landing website.

Lappe was protected against the lawsuit through qualified immunity. But the case was allowed to proceed against the federal government.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Houston and an attorney for Lappe did not immediately return emails seeking comment.

Hoyt awarded nearly $2 million in damages to Valladares’ mother and son.

Former Houston police Chief Art Acevedo had previously said the agent’s explanation for why he shot the hostage “is not supported” by evidence reviewed by police investigators.

The Associated Press