Breitbart Texas traveled to the Mexican States of Tamaulipas and Coahuila to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities.  The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in those areas including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas if a pseudonym were not used. Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and in their original Spanish. This article was written by “M.A. Navarro” from Ciudad Victoria. 

NUEVO LAREDO, Texas — This border city was the scene of a fierce daytime gun battle that caused panic among the citizens and resulted in the death of one gunman from the Los Zetas drug cartel.

The shootout took place last Friday near a shopping center called Soriana. The shopping center is located near the intersection of Eva Samano Road and the Anahuac Highway in the La Fe neighborhood, information provided to Breitbart Texas by the Tamaulipas government revealed.

Shoppers and passerby’s who were near Soriana ran inside various stores seeking refuge from the machine gun fire taking place outside.

The gunmen had been riding in a black 2006 Dodge Ram at the time of the shootout. He crashed into another vehicle and a residence by Samano Street. The gunmen got out of the vehicle shooting indiscriminately and shot two innocent bystanders.

The soldiers fought off the attack killing one of the gunmen while the others managed to flee. At the scene of the crash, authorities found the body of one of the Los Zetas gunman, as well as two rifles and tactical equipment.

That shooting took place just moments after Mexico’s National Security Commissioner Enrique Galindo Ceballos had met U.S. CUstoms and Border Protection Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske at a local school in McAllen, Texas. During that event, Galindo claimed that Mexico’s crime and violence were decreasing while Kerlikowske claimed that the border was as secure as ever, Breitbart Texas previously reported.

“Violence along the Tamaulipas border continued to worsen, just two days after the shootout in Nuevo Laredo, Mexican authorities tried to capture the Gulf Cartel leader in the border city of Reynosa setting off a three hour firefight that killed nine cartel gunmen. Initially authorities had reported that 10 gunmen had died. “

NOTE: This article has been updated.