SAN ANTONIO – A Colorado tourist was shot in the head and thrown from his jet ski as his wife frantically tried to dodge bullets and escape from Mexican pirates marauding on a U.S.-Mexico border lake, according to a transcript from a 911 call released Saturday.

Search teams over the weekend combed the U.S. side of Falcon Lake for David Michael Hartley, 30, whose wife told police he was shot in the the head Thursday after being ambushed by gunmen on boats.

The gunmen are suspected pirates who have turned Falcon Lake, a water-skiing and bass fishing hotspot down the border from Laredo, into uneasy waters for fishermen and boaters. There have been at least five reported run-ins with pirates on the lake this year, though prior holdups had never been deadly.

In a 911 call made to deputies on Thursday, Tiffany Hartley, 29, describes how her husband was thrown off his Jet Ski after he was shot in the back of the head. Hartley told authorities that she was forced to leave her husband in the water as pirates in three boats fired shots at her.

"He was thrown off the jet ski and I couldn't pick him up to get him on mine," a sobbing Hartley tells the dispatcher.

Hartley was then helped on shore by an unidentified man who reportedly witnessed the boats chasing her as she made her way back into U.S. waters.

The Texas Department of Public Safety said Friday that Hartley was believed to be killed, but nearly 24 hours after the shooting, there was still no word whether the oil industry worker had been found. U.S. Border Patrol spokesman Narcizo Ramos said he didn't know whether Mexican authorities were searching their side.

The shooting led Texas DPS to again urge boaters to stay on the U.S. side of the 60-mile lake, five months after issuing its initial advisory following three pirate attacks.

But state Rep. Aaron Pena, a south Texas lawmaker briefed on the pirates earlier this year, said it has become dangerous enough to stay off the lake altogether.

"I wouldn't do it," Pena said. "When I go out there I have all the protection Texas can provide. But the average fisherman doesn't have that."

Pena said he has no doubts the pirates are working with Mexico's drug gangsters. The cartels that control the area wouldn't let the pirates operate otherwise, he said.

Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez said he had contacted the Mexican consulate to ask them to search for Hartley on its side of the lake.

Some campers along Falcon Lake had taken to arming themselves following the state's first warning in May. In one incident that month, state officials said five armed men boarded a boat on the U.S. side of the boundary.

The pirates either use powerful AK-47s or AR-15s to threaten their victims, Texas DPS said. The agency believes the pirates use local Mexican fishermen to operate the boats to get close to American fishermen.

Falcon Lake is a dammed section of the Rio Grande that straddles the border. The border is marked by 14 partially submerged concrete towers that mark the Rio Grande's path before the lake was created in 1954.

According to Gonzalez, Tiffany Hartley told police that the couple rode their Jet Skis for sightseeing and to take pictures of a famous church in Old Guerrero. They were riding back when they saw the armed gunmen on the boats, and immediately began racing back to U.S. waters.

Texas Parks & Wildlife Department spokesman Mike Cox said one of the boats may have crossed into U.S. waters briefly while trying to run down Tiffany Hartley. He said Tiffany Hartley estimated that the shooting took place about 5 to 6 miles from the Texas shoreline, where she parked and called for help.

In April, pirates robbed another group of boaters who also went to Old Guerrero to see the church. Cox said the most recent reported pirate sighting had been Aug. 31, when boaters saw gunmen riding a small skiff with "Game Wardin" misspelled in duct tape on the side of the vessel. Cox said it appeared the pirates were trying to imitate state game warden boats they have seen patrolling the lake.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry said the shooting underscores the need for the federal government to further secure the border.

"It's really become substantially worse in the last 18 months with the drug cartels having almost free rein," Perry said Friday in Austin. "This is about our citizens, on both sides of the borders, safety."

Violence on the Mexican side of the lake has been climbing for several months, as a fractured partnership between the region's dominant Gulf Cartel and its former enforcers, the Zetas, plunged many of the area's Mexican border cities into violence.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/10/01/search-teams-seek-man-shot-mexican-waters/

If we had a President with any experience at all and who isn't a coward he would do the right thing and create a large Coast Guard base there with several vessels and enough staff to constantly patrol the waters.

ALso could put a naval reserve base there and send National Guard troops, but no hes a damn coward and like's seeing bad things happen to American's.

if half of that lake is in texas, why doesn't perry do something?

Perry can't call in Federal Agents or Branches like the Coast Guard.

he can call the police...if it is a crime in texas...

Yea but the Coast Guard is better equipped with weapons, intelligence and satellites to monitor, patrol and arrest these criminals. Basic law enforcement is out gunned by these criminals.

are you saying the police tactical cant handle a few criminals on a boat? i think the police know how to shoot, and tactical units have better weapons... perry is just playing a republican card on obama, trying to put blame on the dems before the elections... he could handle it if he wanted to

I wonder how insurance companies determine death benefits in a case like this?

For example: If you are warned that an area you are going to enter presents deadly dangers but you choose to go anyway, will and insurance company pay death benefits when the risk taker dies?

Now if you are in a very high risk job, life insurance can rise drastically and policies often require that any safety certification of the employee be kept up to date and I think in some cases the company the insuree works for is required to present these certification on behalf of the employee as well as recent OSHA compliance proof.

Of course that may not be true of all life insurance.
But is there a clause, somewhere, in policy (contract) that requires that the individual take some responsibility for the risks they take?

Just wondering?

Not to discount that shooting and killing someone is wrong....

But, I don't know how Americans feel they can illegally cross the Mexican border. In the news article, it stated that the couple went by jetski to see Old Guerrero (which is located in Mexico). I really don't think they had a visa or visitors pass on them, just my assumption.

Many of the newstories that I have heard about and posted in these forums are usually when US citizens do not respect the border.... cross it.... and then cry foul when they are robbed.

If the lake is so dangerous, even on the US side, why are Americans still utilizing it?

In situations like this, no I don't think they can.

The pirates are also venturing into American waters, hell they are even transporting drugs through this route.

Sportsmen in southern Texas have been pulling bass and catfish from Falcon Lake for more than half a century. A 60-miles-long "big fishing paradise" that straddles the U.S.-Mexican border, it is also a hotspot for bird-watchers, providing glimpses of species like the black-chinned hummingbird and the red-bellied woodpecker.

But now the suspected murder of a Colorado tourist, who is said to have been shot in the head as he operated a Jet Ski on international waters last week, has prompted Texas officials to renew warnings about another species that inhabits Falcon Lake -- Mexican pirates.

Search teams continued to scour the U.S. side of Falcon Lake on Monday for the body of David Michael Hartley, 30, whose wife told police he was shot in the head Thursday after they were ambushed by two boatloads of armed men. Authorities say Hartley was shot while he and his wife, Tiffany, were riding their watercraft on the Mexican side of the lake. Tiffany Hartley, 29, managed to escape the gunfire and return to the shore on the American side of the lake.

Officials at the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) say Hartley's apparent death marked the fifth incident since April 30 in which U.S. residents ventured into Mexican waters and encountered pirates on Falcon Lake. Prior to last week, the most recent occurred on Aug. 31, when authorities say pirates aboard a small boat with "Game Wardin" written on its side, in duct-tape lettering, tried to intercept a Texas fisherman. The fisherman, aware of warnings about pirates on the lake and recognizing the misspelling of the word "warden," managed to outrun the Mexican vessel to safety, officials said.

On May 16, five armed men boarded a boat on the U.S. side of Falcon Lake. Investigators have no additional information in that incident. Only 10 days earlier, two armed men approached a boat on the lake's northern side and demanded money, which the fisherman handed over, DPS officials say.

DPS officials are warning anyone headed to Falcon Lake to be on the lookout for vessels typically used by Mexican fishermen: boats with a large prow, a small outboard motor without a cowling and no identification numbers on the hull.

The pirates are believed to be members of a drug trafficking organization or members of an enforcer group linked to a heavily-armed drug trafficking organization that utilizes AK-47s or AR-15 rifles. DPS officials say the men appear to be using local Mexican fisherman to operate the boats to get as close as possible to American fishermen.

DPS spokeswoman Tela Mange told FoxNews.com that her agency, along with the Zapata County Sheriff's Office and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, continues to warn boaters to stay on the U.S. side of Falcon Lake and not to venture into Mexican waters. She said Mexican authorities are cooperating in the ongoing investigation.

"We've been talking to them since Thursday," Mange said. "[The investigation is] continuing. We're searching on the American side."

Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez told Fox News on Monday that the Hartleys ventured up to 3 miles into Mexican waters to photograph ruins of a famous church in Old Guerrero. Gonzalez said a witness told authorities that one of the vessels chased Tiffany Hartley back into U.S. territory

"I think they were after money," Gonzalez said of the gunmen. "We've had similar incidents happen in April and May."

He said his office is trying to contact Mexican authorities to be granted access to the area where the shooting occurred.

"However, unfortunately, we have not seen very much action on behalf of Mexican authorities to reach the scene up there and try to look for a body," he said.

David England, superintendent of Falcon State Park, a 572-acre parcel that includes Falcon Lake, said roughly 160,000 people visit the southern Texas landmark annually to camp, swim, fish, water ski and boat, among other activities. Fishing, however, reigns supreme.

"That's what it's always been known for," England told FoxNews.com.

According to the park's website, Falcon Lake, a dammed section of the Rio Grande, is a "big fishing paradise, especially for those seeking black and white bass, catfish and stripers." There's also a mile-long, self-guided nature trail and campsites with restrooms and showers.

But a growing number of those visitors have recently asked park officials about reports of pirates on the lake, England said.

"It hits national news every day, so yeah, it's getting around," England said of reports of Hartley's murder. "Yeah, anybody that has watched the news has asked about it."

England reiterated that the park has had the same warning in effect since early May, advising visitors to stay on the U.S. side of the border. As of Monday, England said Falcon State Park had just one DPS police officer assigned to the entire facility, with another full-time officer on the way, he said. Due to the ongoing media attention to the lake since Hartley's death, England thinks visitation will go down.

"I would say it probably will affect visitation," he said. "That's my guess."

Asked if the lake is safe, England replied: "Well, it is, if you listen to the warnings to stay on the U.S. side of the lake. To my knowledge, all of these incidents have happened in Mexico or right at the line, so to speak."

The shooting has prompted several lawmakers to call for increased surveillance of the area, including one politician in southern Texas who said it has become dangerous enough to avoid altogether.

"I wouldn't do it," said state Rep. Aaron Pena, who was briefed on the pirates earlier this year. "When I go out there I have all the protection Texas can provide. But the average fisherman doesn't have that."

Pena said he has no doubt that the pirates are working with Mexico's powerful drug cartels. If they didn't, the cartels that control the region wouldn't let them operate, he said.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry said last week that the shooting highlights the need for federal government to better secure the southern border.

"It's really become substantially worse in the last 18 months with the drug cartels having almost free rein," Perry said on Friday. "This is about our citizens' -- on both sides of the borders -- safety."

Ray Walser, a senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, a Washington-based think tank, also called on federal authorities to shore up border security.

"This is a situation that, all along the border, we're seeing little flare-ups," Walser told Fox News. "It's not an everyday occurrence, but this is a tragedy that really should not happen."

Meanwhile, officials at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, in a statement to FoxNews.com on Monday, wrote:

"Over the past nineteen months, this administration has dedicated unprecedented manpower, technology and infrastructure to the Southwest border. Seizures of illicit goods are up across the board, illegal crossings are down, and the Border Patrol is better staffed than at any time in its 86-year history.

"Though drug cartels are engaged in an armed, violent struggle to control shrinking drug routes and territories in Mexico, we are not, however, seeing any indications of similar violence here in the U.S.

"We will continue to work with our federal, state, local, tribal and Mexican partners to keep our communities safe."

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/10/04/warnings-texas-falcon-lake-place-officials-say/

The wife and mother of an American allegedly shot to death by Mexican pirates on a border lake in Texas are angrily demanding that Mexican authorities allow U.S. investigators to join the search for a body -- and stop questioning whether the attack ever happened.

Search teams scouring the U.S. side of Falcon Lake have turned up no sign of David Michael Hartley, 30, five days after his wife said he was shot in the head by Mexican bandits marauding on the U.S.-Mexican border lake.

Tiffany Hartley, 29, accused Mexican authorities Tuesday of "not looking" for her husband's body and called on President Obama to pressure the Mexican government into allowing U.S. authorities to search the Mexican side of the lake.

In an interview with Fox News, Hartley said she and her husband set out on the lake on Jet Skis to take pictures of a half-submerged Catholic church when they spotted three boats approaching them.

Hartley said her husband was shot in the back of the head, "as far as I know," and that she was unable to pull him on to her Jet Ski.

"I tried pulling him up but before that a boat had approached me with a gun -- had pointed the gun at me -- and then they left and that's when I tried pulling him up on my ski," she said.

Hartley told a dispatcher in her 911 call that she was forced to leave her husband behind because pirates in three boats were firing shots and chasing her.

Hartley was then helped on shore by an unidentified man who reportedly witnessed the boats chasing her as she made her way back into U.S. waters.

The Texas Department of Public Safety said Friday that Hartley was believed to be killed, but nearly five days after the shooting, there was still no word whether the oil industry worker had been found.

Hartley denied any suggestions from Mexican authorities that her account was not truthful, saying, "I loved him and there’s no way I would do anything like that."

Her mother-in-law, Pam Hartley, also defended her innocence, telling Fox News that "there is no way that Tiffany had any involvement other than trying to get away."

"They couldn't have loved each other more," she said of the couple.

Pam Hartley said her son "gave his life" to protect his wife. She also suggested that the pirates took Hartley's body and Jet Ski to hide any evidence.

Hartley went on to make a personal plea to Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to intervene in the case by sending U.S. authorities to search the Mexican side of the lake for her son's body.

"Hillary Clinton, she's a mother. She can understand," she said.

Mexican authorities investigating the alleged shooting reportedly say they have not yet found any evidence of the crime.

Rolando Armando Flores Villegas, the local Tamaulipas State Police commander in charge of the search for Hartley, told The Monitor newspaper that his investigators so far have found no evidence or Hartley's remains.

Investigators told the newspaper they were using two sets of GPS coordinates supplied by Young-Hartley to U.S. consular officials, but that their search of the lake at least a mile around each coordinate turned up nothing.

Marco Antonio Guerrero Carrizales, the district attorney in Miguel Aleman whose area also covers the Mexican side of Falcon Lake, told the newspaper that they can't figure out why neither Hartley’s watercraft nor his body — investigators were told he was wearing a life vest — have been found.

Officials at the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) told FoxNews.com that Hartley's alleged death marked the fifth incident since April 30 in which U.S. residents ventured into Mexican waters and encountered pirates on the 60-miles-long Falcon Lake.

Prior to last week, the most recent occurred on Aug. 31, when authorities say pirates aboard a small boat with "Game Wardin" written on its side, in duct-tape lettering, tried to intercept a Texas fisherman. The fisherman, aware of warnings about pirates on the lake and recognizing the misspelling of the word "warden," managed to outrun the Mexican vessel to safety, officials said.

On May 16, five armed men boarded a boat on the U.S. side of Falcon Lake. Investigators have no additional information in that incident. Only 10 days earlier, two armed men approached a boat on the lake's northern side and demanded money, which the fisherman handed over, DPS officials say.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/10/04/tourist-calls-obama-step-search-husbands-body-alleged-mexican-pirate-attack/

I am starting to not believe her story. I think there is a lot more to this. This guy was worth a lot of money. He was a big time Oil Exeuctive. I hope the police are going over the wife and her background with a fine toothed comb and are looking into what she stood to gain with his death.

The pirates have never just gone up and shot someone before without asking for money and have never covered up their crimes, it helps with intimidation.

Not to mention the wife said the pirates were ggoing away and she tried to pull her husbands body onto her Jet Ski, but then turned around and said she had to leave the body because three vessels were chaing her.

Then there is the missing jet ski annd the fact that with the life jacket on they body would float. There is also the rapid esciliation of agression with the pirates that doesn't make sense.

If pirates did in fact kill him then Obama needs to order a small Coast Guard base be built on the lake and have constant patrols with several boart. It is a known entrance spot for drugs and illegals to be smuggled in so either way the Coast Guard would be needed.