A man wanted for two killings in Nashville walked up to a border bridge in Laredo. He did not know CBP officers were about to catch him.

On July 7, officers at the Gateway to the Americas Bridge pulled a man aside. They sent him for a second check. That man was Edgar Beltran, 20. Beltran is a U.S. citizen. He was crossing the bridge on foot.

Officers ran his name through federal police databases. They also checked his fingerprints. The check showed Beltran had an active felony warrant for murder. Nashville police had issued that warrant. CBP officers confirmed it was real. They took Beltran to the Webb County jail. He is waiting there for the next step in his case.

This arrest shows how South Texas border crossings do more than check passports. They also catch people running from crimes far away. Laredo is one of the busiest ports of entry in the country. Thousands of trucks, workers, and shoppers cross the Gateway to the Americas Bridge every day. Most people who walk through just want to get to work or back home. But every so often, one officer's second look turns up a wanted man.

Port Director Alberto Flores runs the Laredo Port of Entry. He praised his officers after the arrest.

"Our frontline CBP officers maintained strict vigilance and apprehended a man wanted in connection with a homicide in Tennessee," Flores said. "The apprehension of an individual wanted for homicide is paramount to upholding our border security mission and ensuring justice for victims. Every successful apprehension reinforces CBP's commitment to protecting communities."

Nashville police say Beltran is tied to the deaths of two young people in May. A gun deal between two groups went bad. Both groups fired shots during the meet up. Aldo Sosa Arteaga, 20, and Alijzhia Hatcher, 19, died in the shooting.

Beltran will be sent back to Nashville to face charges. Police plan to charge him with criminal homicide. He also faces a charge of attempted criminal homicide. Both are serious felony charges tied to the May shooting.

This is not Beltran's first run in with the law. Nashville police say he was arrested before, in October 2024. Back then he faced charges of attempted criminal homicide. He also faced charges of reckless endangerment. Police say he used a gun in a dangerous felony too. Beltran pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of aggravated assault. He also pleaded guilty to felony reckless endangerment. A judge gave him six years of supervised probation instead of prison time.

CBP officers use a database called the National Crime Information Center, or NCIC, to check people at the border. That database lists open warrants from police departments all over the country. CBP says its officers at ports like Laredo have used it before. They have caught people wanted for escape, money laundering, and robbery. They have caught people wanted for drug crimes, child abuse, fraud, and theft. They have even caught people wanted for military desertion.

For families along the border, cases like this one matter. A warrant filed a thousand miles away in Tennessee reached Laredo. It helped stop a wanted man before he could slip across the line. Border agents say the same system protects South Texas towns too. It catches local fugitives, not just ones from out of state.

For now, Beltran sits in the Webb County jail. He is waiting to be handed over to authorities. Then he will be sent back to Tennessee to face the double homicide case. Nashville police have not said exactly when that transfer will happen.

Local officials have not said how long Beltran was in Laredo. They also have not said why he chose that bridge. Those questions may come out once he is back in a Tennessee courtroom.

Criminal charges are only accusations. Beltran is presumed innocent unless a court finds him guilty.