DPS asked to halt airborne sharpshooters for policy review Houston Chronicle Copyright 2012 Houston Chronicle. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Updated 9:06 p.m., Wednesday, October 31, 2012 A week after the shooting deaths of two suspected illegal immigrants, the Hidalgo County district attorney on Wednesday asked the Texas Department of Public Safety to temporarily suspend its practice of using airborne sharpshooters to disable vehicles during pursuits. Civil rights organizations lambasted the shooting, and a nationally known use-of-force expert has said he had never heard of a U.S.