KINNEY COUNTY, Tx. - Two Baton Rouge men were arrested after Texas law enforcement caught them smuggling several undocumented immigrants near the U.S.-Mexico border, one of whom police believe played a role in a drive-by shooting that killed two teenagers outside the Mall of Louisiana last year. 

After the chase in Kinney County, Texas last week, authorities identified the driver as 26-year-old Donald Ray Graves and the passenger as Najoua Jabarie Harris, 25. Records show both men are from Baton Rouge.

The Texas Department of Public Safety made the arrests around 9 a.m. Friday. Officials told FOX News they initially tried to stop the vehicle over a traffic violation. A chase ensued after the driver refused to pull over, and the car only stopped after it crashed through a gate and stalled. 

Both suspects tried to run away but were captured. Officers searched the vehicle and found the six immigrants inside, two of whom were inside the trunk. 

Both men have extensive criminal records in East Baton Rouge Parish, including charges for drugs and weapons. According to an arrest warrant obtained by WBRZ, Graves is also suspected of buying the vehicle used in the Mall of Louisiana shooting from a used car lot just a day before the attack. 

Police believe Graves bought the car, a white 2005 Honda Accord, on Feb. 24, 2022. The car was used in the shooting the next day and abandoned at the scene on Bluebonnet Boulevard, with the shooters jumping into a getaway car that had been following them.

Though police arrested another suspect, Demetriyon Grim, about a month after the shooting, a grand jury did not believe there was enough evidence to indict him for the murders. As of Tuesday, no one has been formally charged in the 2022 shooting.