Someone fired shots in front of a Brownsville city commissioner's home early Saturday. It happened on Sept. 5. Police reported no injuries.

Brownsville police call it a "shots fired incident." Police have not publicly named which commissioner lives there. They have not named a suspect. They have not given a motive.

The timing is what has the city talking. One week before, the city dropped more than 444 acres out of its city limits. SpaceX asked for it. SpaceX is Elon Musk's rocket company. It runs Starbase near Boca Chica Beach.

Police have not tied the shots to that vote. That point matters. Nobody at the police department has said the two things are linked.

Mayor John Cowen said the shooting is "deeply troubling." He said the city is taking it seriously.

"Political intimidation and violence, real or attempted, have no place in Brownsville," Cowen said. "Our elected officials, city staff, and every resident deserve to feel safe in their own homes, regardless of political disagreements."

City Commissioner Tino Villarreal Jr. called off his town hall. He had planned to talk with people about the SpaceX water deal.

"Given last night's shots-fired incident in front of the home of a sitting City Commissioner, I have made the decision to cancel my upcoming Town Hall until the investigation is concluded and the political climate in Brownsville is healthier for public discussion," Villarreal said.

Here is what the vote was about.

The city commission met on Saturday, Aug. 29. It was a special meeting. It ran six hours. City leaders voted to disannex more than 444 acres. To disannex means the city drops land from its city limits. The city stops running it. The city stops taxing it.

SpaceX asked for that. In return, SpaceX promised up to $220 million for water work. The money comes in pieces. First, $40 million goes into escrow. Escrow is money held by a third party until the terms are met. Then come six payments of $30 million each.

The money pays for two projects. One would clean and reuse water the city now dumps. That adds about 8 million gallons a day. The other grows the Southmost Regional Water Authority plant. That adds up to 10 million gallons a day.

Together that is up to 18 million more gallons a day. Brownsville uses about 22 million gallons a day now. About 70 percent of that comes from the Rio Grande.

The land is private. The El Paso Times reported that 48 families and trusts own it. No homes sit on it. KRGV reported the city took in only $200 to $250 a year in taxes on it.

Every city leader voted yes. But some of them did not like how fast it moved.

Cowen said he "did not feel comfortable with the pace here." He asked to push the vote to Tuesday. SpaceX said no. A SpaceX vice president said the money was gone if the city did not vote that day.

Villarreal asked for three more days. He also asked SpaceX to sign the water deal first. SpaceX said no to both. He voted yes anyway. He said he was thinking about water for the long haul.

Not everyone bought it. Bekah Hinojosa spoke at the meeting. She is with the South Texas Environmental Justice Network.

"We've never had a town hall about water scarcity...and then out of nowhere, this private space corporation...put pressure on the city," she said.

Matthew Rosas, who lives in the city, said the deadline felt "more like a threat."

So what do police know? Not much they will share. Officers are still working to learn what happened. They are still working to find who did it. Police said they will file charges when the case shows a crime took place.

There are other ways this could break. A Brownsville news blog, El Rrun Rrun, says the shots came from a drive-by. The blog says it had nothing to do with politics. The blog cited unnamed sources. Police have not backed that up. They have not ruled it out either.

That leaves two live ideas. One is that someone went after an elected leader over a vote. The other is that a house caught stray gunfire from something else. Police have picked neither one.

A town hall on the deal had been set for Wednesday, Sept. 9. People were going to get an open microphone. That is off for now.

El Tejano wrote about SpaceX and Boca Chica Beach before. That was a different story. It was about beach closings and the Texas Supreme Court. Read it here: https://www.eltejanorgv.com/texas-supreme-court-you-cant-sue-to-open-boca-chica-beach-for-spacex-launches/