Police: Gunman shot Progreso public works director

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (ValleyCentral) — A city administrator from Progreso was shot Thursday afternoon during a bizarre incident that apparently involved a mysterious man with a mohawk.

Progreso Public Works Director Jose “Borrado” Moreno was shot in the hand Thursday afternoon.

“I don’t know what actually happened. I was at work and he just came in through the Fire Department door saying: ‘Hey! I got shot, I got shot,” said City Manager Pedro “Pete” Treviño.

At first, Treviño thought Moreno was joking.

“I thought he was playing with me,” Treviño said. “I stepped out of my office and saw he was bleeding.”

Jose Ruperto Moreno, 48, of Progreso — who is known to many as “Borrado” — supported Mayor Hugo Gamboa’s political campaign.

In 2024, when Gamboa became mayor, Moreno applied for a job at City Hall.

“I wanted to help the city,” Moreno said in a December 2024 interview.

Progreso made Moreno, who had supervised oil refinery workers and managed a taqueria, the city’s new Public Works director.

It wasn’t his resume, though, that raised eyebrows in Progreso.

In December 2000, federal agents caught Moreno with about 34 pounds of marijuana. Moreno pleaded guilty, according to records from the case, and was sentenced to 86 days in jail.

Moreno had more problems with the law in August 2007, when police caught him with cocaine.

A judge sentenced Moreno to 10 years in prison, according to documents filed with the Hidalgo County District Clerk’s Office. Less than six months later, he received shock probation — and was released.

“It was a long time ago,” Moreno said in a December 2024 interview. “And I don’t want to talk about the past, either.”

After he received shock probation, Moreno said he turned his life around.

“I just prayed to God that, if I got out, I wasn’t going to do that no more,” Moreno said in a December 2024 interview. “I was going to stop 100%.”

Moreno supervised about six people who cut grass, cleaned drainage ditches and fixed potholes in Progreso.

“We got a lot of potholes everywhere,” Moreno said in a December 2024 interview. “On every block.”

Perhaps his biggest project was sprucing up the city park, which had been neglected for years.

What happened on Thursday afternoon remains under investigation.

Moreno said a black truck followed him down Gonzalez Road, according to interim police Chief Al Perez, who is investigating the incident.

At some point, Moreno stopped, Perez said, thinking the person in the black truck wanted to speak with him.

A young man with a mohawk asked if Moreno was “Borrado” from the city, Perez said. It’s not clear what the man wanted.

A scuffle ensued, Perez said, and the man pulled out a gun. Moreno grabbed the weapon and was shot in the left hand.

The man also made a threatening comment about the mayor, Perez said.

Police don’t know where, exactly, the shooting took place.

Moreno said the black truck followed him down Gonzalez Road, but police couldn’t find the crime scene, Perez said. Moreno’s wife said that she believed the shooting took place near Farm-to-Market Road 1015, but that location also showed no signs of a shooting.

“He didn’t give any exact directions,” said Treviño, who added that Moreno was extremely shaken up. “He was just throwing words everywhere.”

Perez visited Moreno at the hospital Thursday night.

“I just spoke to the victim. He’s OK,” Perez said. “He did have some surgery on his left hand. He’s still in pain, but he’s in decent spirits.”