Top officials in Tamaulipas are tight-lipped after a major shootout in the border city of Matamoros where a two-year-old girl was hit. A police officer and two cartel gunmen also died on New Year’s Day.
The shootout began when Gulf Cartel gunmen working under “Comandante Pajaro” were carrying out a kidnapping on the western side of the city. When state police tried to respond, they were met with gunfire.
The violence spread on the western side of the city as gunmen and state police clashed in a rolling shootout. A state officer was fatally wounded and a two-year-old girl sustained a gunshot to her leg from a stray bullet. The child is expected to recover.
Additionally, two gunmen also died from injuries after comrades dumped them at a hospital.
State forces kept a security perimeter around the morgue, the local hospital, and other facilities in the aftermath.
Despite the intensity of the clash, Matamoros Mayor Mario “La Borrega” Lopez remains silent.
Former Matamoros Mayor Leticia Salazar took to social media during the shootout, warning locals to be careful.
Similarly, Tamaulipas Governor Americo Villarreal has also avoided making public statements about the shootout or the rise in violence since he took office.
Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to Mexico City and the states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León 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 “J.A Espinoza” and “J.C. Sanchez” from Tamaulipas.