FOR IMMEDIATE PUBLIC RELEASE:
AUSTIN, Texas (April 24, 2022) – The Texas Military Department continues the search 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 in an effort to locate SPC Evans. Dive teams were forced 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 again early Sunday morning, 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 fall of 2020 from a 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 of time, while then rotating back into Kuwait.
The mission of the Texas Military Department (TMD) is to provide the Governor and the President with ready and trained forces in support of the citizens of Texas and State and Federal civil/military authorities at home and abroad. The Texas Military Department is commanded by the Adjutant General of Texas, the state's senior military official appointed by the governor, and is comprised of the Office of State Administration (formerly the Office of the Executive Director), the Texas Army National Guard (TXARNG), the Texas Air National Guard (TXANG) and the Texas State Guard (TXSG). For more information about the Texas Military Department visit our Website at https://tmd.texas.gov.