A federal judge in Houston awarded nearly $2 million in damages on Monday to the mother and son of a Honduran man fatally shot by an FBI agent during a botched rescue attempt in 2018.
Judge Kenneth Hoyt ruled that Special Agent Gavin Lappe acted negligently by firing his rifle through the window of a home on Elbert Street, fatally wounding Ulises Valladares.
Hoyt also found no evidence to support Lappe’s claim that Valladares, who had been held for ransom, had grabbed his gun. “Statements by the agents otherwise are not only untrue and unsupported by scientific evidence or logic, they represent intentional falsehoods,” Hoyt wrote in a ten-page order.
Hoyt determined that Lappe’s actions were negligent and concluded that the federal government could be held liable for Valladares’s death. As a result, Valladares’s family members were awarded damages, which included compensation for the emotional distress of losing him, the loss of financial support, and the costs of repatriating his body to Honduras. Valladares’s son, Ulysses Valladares Jr., was awarded $1.3 million, while Valladares’s mother, Justina Garcia, received $611,000. Hoyt also granted $475,000 in attorney fees.
The ruling marks the latest development in a legal battle that has spanned over six years between Valladares’s family, Lappe, and the federal government. Individual claims against Lappe were dismissed from the civil rights lawsuit after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Hoyt’s decision that Lappe was not protected by qualified immunity. The appellate court found that Lappe accidentally shot Valladares while attempting the rescue and determined that his actions did not violate Valladares’s constitutional rights.
The lawsuit also included the four people convicted in Valladares’s kidnapping and death. However, Randall Kallinen, one of the attorneys for Valladares’s family, said that only the federal government is liable for paying damages under the Federal Tort Claims Act.
Hoyt’s decision comes after a three-day bench trial that concluded nearly five months ago. During the trial, Valladares Jr. testified about the profound emotional impact of losing his father. “My life just came crashing down. I wish I had someone else’s life,” he said.
When asked whether the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas intended to appeal the ruling, a spokesperson responded: “Thank you for your interest, but we do not have any additional information to provide at this time.”
“The family of Ulises Valladares has sought justice for many years, and we’re glad that at least this phase is over,” said Kallinen, who, along with U.A. Lewis, filed the suit.
Abduction and shooting
During the trial, Valladares Jr. recalled that the day of the kidnapping, January 24, 2018, began like any other. While eating cereal and watching TV, he said he heard a knock at the door of the home he shared with his father in Conroe. Two men then forced their way in, demanding that the 12-year-old fill pillowcases with jewelry and video games. The men also claimed that one of his uncles owed them money.
Valladares Jr. testified that the men took him to his room, bound his hands with duct tape, and covered his mouth with more tape. Before leaving, they placed a jacket over his head and ordered him not to leave the room for five to ten minutes. When Valladares Jr. emerged after that time had passed, his father was gone.
Authorities later traced Valladares to a house on Elbert Street in Houston. The morning after the abduction, an FBI team assembled outside the Trinity Gardens house. It was decided that Lappe and Special Agent Jeffrey Hawkins would position themselves on the south side of the house while a primary team breached the front door. Hawkins was tasked with breaking a double-paned window using a Halogen tool, while Lappe was assigned to provide cover.
When the order was given, Hawkins broke the first pane but lost his grip on the tool, dropping it inside. As Hawkins moved away from the window, he saw someone inside and heard two shots, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Ariel Wiley.
Unaware that the shots were fired by Lappe, Hawkins dove under a parked car for cover, Wiley said during October’s bench trial. It was only later that he realized Lappe had pulled the trigger. According to an autopsy report referenced by Hoyt in his order, one of the bullets hit Valladares, passing through his left arm and exiting from his back. He died within minutes, according to authorities.
After the shooting, Lappe claimed he fired because someone had grabbed his gun, and he feared it would be taken from him. The claim was met with skepticism from then-Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo, whose department, along with the FBI, investigated the incident. Acevedo stated that Lappe’s claim was “not supported” by “the totality of the evidence and statements in this investigation.”
Hoyt reached similar conclusions, stating in the order that there was no evidence indicating that Valladares — whose hands were reportedly bound and eyes covered with a black bandana — leaned out of the window, could see either Lappe or Hawkins, pointed his hands through the window toward either agent, grabbed Lappe’s rifle, “or in any manner threatened the safety of the agents.”
“An examination of the hostage’s hands and body reveal that he was never in contact with Agent Lappe’s weapon,” Hoyt wrote. “A review of a photograph of the window and considering the speed with which events developed does not square with Agents Hawkins and Lappe’s statement. The hostage was either standing on the couch or behind the couch at the time he was shot. Neither of these positions nor the size of the opening in the window permitted the hostage to extend himself out the window.”
In reviewing the FBI’s deadly force policy, Hoyt also determined that Lappe failed to issue a warning before firing.
“Agent Lappe’s actions were not accidental or designed to warn the occupants in the room. He fired a ‘kill’ shot that in fact cause(d) the death of the hostage, Mr. Valladares, Sr.,” Hoyt wrote.
Hoyt also lifted a protective order on Monday that had shielded Lappe from being identified by name in court documents.
The FBI’s Houston field office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Kidnapping arose from dispute over car sale
Following the shooting — the first by an FBI agent in Harris County in 13 years — federal officials chose not to pursue criminal charges. The decision followed an unusual move by former Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg, who publicly questioned then-U.S. Attorney Ryan Patrick about whether his office would examine the incident. In response, Patrick recused himself from the investigation, and the case was subsequently transferred to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas and the Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General for further review.
During the bench trial, Wiley, the assistant U.S. attorney, argued that Lappe’s actions did not amount to negligence by the government. She went on to say that if there were any liability in the case, the “overwhelming majority” should fall on the four people convicted of kidnapping Valladares. Nicholas Chase Cunningham, Sophia Perez Heath, Jimmy Tony Sanchez, and Delia Gualdina Velasquez are currently serving prison sentences ranging from 20 years to life for their roles in the crime.
The kidnapping arose from a dispute over a car sale, according to Valladares’s brother, Ernesto Valladares. He testified that Velasquez, whom he referred to as a distant cousin, initially asked for $2,000 but later sought an additional $300 for the sale. Ernesto said he agreed to pay that amount in exchange for the car’s title. However, before they could finalize the arrangement, his brother was kidnapped and held for ransom.
Five of the nine witnesses called by Kallinen and Lewis were family members who spoke about how Valladares’s son and his mother suffered irreparably from his passing. Valladares Jr. became withdrawn after his father’s death, his uncle testified.
“He was not the same child,” Ernesto said through a Spanish interpreter.
Zulema Valladares, Ulises’s sister, described how their mother’s once cheerful spirit vanished after her son’s death. “Very slowly, she went down,” Zulema said. “She almost didn’t want to speak to anybody.”
Fidel Valladares Garcia, another sibling, said their mother stopped visiting neighbors, taking walks on the beach, or traveling to see family in El Salvador. “We almost lost her,” he said, expressing how she seemed to lose her memories after Ulises’s death.
Justina Garcia testified that in the six years since her son’s death, she still finds it hard to experience joy. “Christmas doesn’t exist anymore. Now, it’s just sadness,” she said. She explained that the shocking nature of his death, especially at the hands of law enforcement, intensified the pain. “If his death was an act of God, it would have consoled me in a way,” Garcia said. “But this… it doesn’t compare to anything.”
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