Sister of Arizona man shot by Border Patrol insists 'he's no victim' and calls him a people smuggler

 The Arizona man who was shot by Border Patrol agents close to the Mexico border this week has been outed by his own sister as a violent people smuggler.

Patrick Gary Schlegel, 34, was gunned down by an officer in Arivaca, around 30 miles south of Tucson, before being taken to hospital in a serious but stable condition. 

Schlegel, from Sahuarita, is accused of firing a shot at a US Customs and Border Protection helicopter which was assisting his arrest

Agents were trying to detain him for alleged people smuggling, and one officer shot him after he opened fire on the aircraft, according to the Department of Justice. 

The incident followed the slaughter of anti-ICE protestors Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good, both 37, at the hands of federal agents in Minnesota earlier in January. 

However, Schlegel's sister, Amber Schlegel, has spoken out to distinguish her brother's shooting from the killings of Pretti and Good, saying he had it coming.

She outed her sibling as a violent criminal who has been smuggling illegal migrants over the border for a long time, adding that he should be in jail. 

'To hear that he's back running illegals again didn't surprise me, but to hear that he actually fired at federal agents – that took me by surprise,' she told 13 News. 

'He is no victim. He is a violent person. That's who he always has been.' 

Amber added that her brother has put many migrants in danger through his risky smuggling system.  

'I don't care how people feel about (illegals), they're people,' she said. 'He could have killed them with no care.'

She added that her brother has threatened her for speaking out against him in the past, prompting her to take out an order of protection against him.  

'He's where he should be,' she said. 'Whether he recovers or not, he needs to be locked up for a very long time.'

Patrick Schlegel was spotted driving a Dodge Ram pickup around 10 miles north of the US-Mexico border on Monday morning, according to a criminal complaint. 

He was already on the radar with an active warrant for escape from a previous conviction for human smuggling. 

When agents tried to pull him over, he drove away and later stopped his vehicle to let two men out - named as Alfonso Isidrio-Carrillo and Jeronimo Rosado-Garcia. 

The men were taken into custody, but Schlegel fled. 

Rosado-Garcia told investigators he paid Schlegel $8,000 to be smuggled into the U.S., while Isidrio-Carrillo said he paid $14,000.

Around 7am the next day, agents tracked Schlegel's truck down again. He bailed from the vehicle and sprinted into the desert nearby. 

Border Patrol deployed the helicopter to follow him, and he allegedly fired several rounds at the aircraft. 

At this point, an agent shot at Schlegel, and he suffered injuries to his leg and head. Police recovered a .45 pistol and a cell phone from the accused criminal. 

'There is no ambiguity here, shooting at any law enforcement officer - including federal agents - is a violent felony that attacks the rule of law and undermines universal American values,' US Attorney Timothy Courchaine said in a statement released by the DoJ. 

'We will pursue every available charge to ensure the subject is held fully accountable under federal law. 

'The quick and coordinated reaction to the threat posed by this subject from all levels of Arizona law enforcement was key and demonstrates why local and federal cooperation keeps communities safer.' 

The incident follows the killing of intensive care nurse Alex Pretti, 37, by Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis during a scuffle at a protest on January 24. 

Pretti was armed with a loaded Sig Sauer P320 9mm pistol - which he had a legal permit to carry - when he allegedly tried to stop agents from detaining a woman. 

The nurse did not fire any shots at the agents, and one shot him several times as several more officers surrounded him and he struggled to break free. 

Less than three weeks prior, on January 7, mother-of-three Renee Nicole Good, 37, was gunned down by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in the same city. 

She was in her car which was positioned sideways in the street when officer Jonathan 'Jon' Ross walked around her vehicle and told her to get out. 

Good began moving forward slowly instead, and Ross responded by firing four shots through her windshield, striking her in the head, chest, and forearm. 

Both victims are believed to have been protesting the increasingly aggressive tactics used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers to deport migrants, and their deaths have only caused rallies against the agency to snowball.