After days of not hearing from their loved one, family members identified the body of a teenager who had just turned 17. The teen was found after several days spent in a city morgue following a shootout with authorities in the Mexican border state of Coahuila. The teen was one of two gunmen killed when a large number of gunmen tried to enter the region.
The shootout took place last weekend near the city of Hidalgo, Coahuila. The region where the attack took place is a spot where gunmen routinely jump between the states of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas. The three states all share a border with Texas. This unique geographic shape has created a jurisdictional nightmare for Mexican authorities since gunmen can carry out attacks in one state and cross the border to the neighboring states.
On the day of the attack, a group of gunmen in several vehicles had crossed into Coahuila through a rural dirt road and encountered a patrol of Coahuila state police forces. The officers clashed with the gunmen and called for backup. After an intense shootout, the police officers forced the gunmen to flee but were able to kill two of them and arrest eight others, including two women.
A state judge in Coahuila formally charged the eight gunmen with multiple weapons and drug charges and ordered they be held without bond.
During the week, a relative of an underage teenager named Alexis Gomez Torres contacted authorities in Coahuila and was able to identify him as one of the gunmen killed in the attack. Gomez Torres was originally from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, a city considered the stronghold of the Cartel Del Noreste faction of Los Zetas.
As Breitbart Texas reported, in 2019, the CDN-Los Zetas sent over 100 gunmen to carry out terrorist-style attacks in Villa Union, Coahuila. After hours of shootouts with police, authorities managed to push the gunmen back to Tamaulipas. Tthe fighting led to more than 24 casualties — including 17 gunmen. In the aftermath, government officials called the attack “terrorist” in nature, meant to spread panic among locals.
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.M. Martinez” from Coahuila.
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