Two men charged in shooting of Texas Game Warden




Two men have been arrested and charged in connection with the shooting of a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department game warden earlier this week. Booked into the Delta County jail in Cooper were Eli Stephens, 18, and Dalton Haddix, 21, both of Illinois. Stephens has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a second-degree felony. Haddix was charged with failure to report a felony, a Class A misdemeanor. The two men, who came to Texas for the holidays, were taken into custody by game wardens Tuesday afternoon following an investigation by TPWD game wardens, Texas Rangers and the Delta County Sheriff's Office. The charges stem from the Sunday shooting of Game Warden Chris Fried, 31, of Cooper. Fried had been off duty and bow hunting on the Cooper Wildlife Management Area when the incident occurred around 6 p.m. The warden remains in stable condition in the intensive care unit of Parkland Hospital in Dallas, where he underwent surgery early Monday for a gunshot wound from a high-powered rifle bullet that entered his upper right shoulder and lodged in his chest. According to investigators, Fried had been sitting in a blind on the 14,160-acre wildlife management area, hoping to take a deer, when he saw a light and heard what he believed to be a electronic game call. Thinking someone might be illegally hunting on state property, the warden went into law enforcement mode and left his stand to investigate. Moments later, as he walked toward the light, Fried was struck by a bullet. The warden yelled, "You shot me!" but no one responded or came to his aid. Fried then used his cell phone to call for help. Investigators have determined that the shot came from private property adjacent to the WMA. Information from a Delta County resident familiar with the area led wardens to the two defendants.




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Fishing Report from TPWD (Jul. 9)

GOOD. Water slightly stained; 85 degrees; 0.26 feet above pool. Big numbers of white bass and several trophy-class hybrid stripers have hit the deck. We are consistently finding the best action in 15–22 feet of water. Good go-to setups include a variety of slabs, sometimes paired with 2–3 jigs above, and the always-reliable yellow bladed jig using the proven saw tooth retrieve technique. Trolling spoons at 3 mph in 13–17 feet of water absolutely crushed the white bass. Water temperatures are currently holding around 83 degrees and will continue to rise as summer heats up over the next couple of weeks. Report by Brent Herbeck, Herbeck’s Lonestar Fishing Guide Service. Fishing patterns remain consistent. Catfish are good anchoring on humps in 12-24 feet using small shad or cut shad on the bottom, or drifting larger cut carp, drum or big gizzard shad on flats in 10-25 feet all around the lake. Report by Jason Barber, Kings Creek Adventures.

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