Cartel gunmen and police forces clashed in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, in a chase-turned-shootout. The shootout, which went on for over an hour spread, terror among the local community.
The shootout took place on Tuesday afternoon in various parts of the south side of Nuevo Laredo. The border city is located directly south of Laredo, Texas, and is considered to be one of the busiest smuggling corridors for the Cartel Del Noreste faction of Los Zetas (CDN-Los Zetas).
A video shared on social media captured the scene as a group of gunmen in body armor ran in between vehicles at a busy boulevard during a shootout with authorities. Gunfire can be heard in the background as the gunmen run around various vehicles.
While the Tamaulipas government has not released any information on the case, law enforcement sources revealed to Breitbart Texas that the case began in the town of Salinas Victoria in the State of Nuevo Leon. A tractor-trailer heading from Monterrey to Nuevo Laredo ran past a police checkpoint. Authorities followed the fleeing vehicle and even dispatched a helicopter to help with the pursuit.
The truck driver crossed state lines and continued moving toward Nuevo Laredo. There, gunmen from CDN-Los Zetas began clashing with authorities in various parts of the city. In the city of Nuevo Laredo, the CDN-Los Zetas have a squad of gunmen patrolling the city known as Hell’s Troops or Tropas Del Infierno.
The chase ended in the Plaza de La Mujer (Women’s Plaza) where authorities managed to stop the truck and detained the driver. Authorities have not revealed what was inside the truck.
The CDN-Los Zetas is the same criminal organization that sent a team of hitmen to Laredo to kidnap a man and take him to Mexico, Breitbart Texas reported. The victim in that case, who had bragged about stealing $50,000 from the cartel, remains missing.
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 their original Spanish. This article was written by “J.C. Sanchez” from Tamaulipas.