Posted on 05/22/2005 7:08:49 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
REYNOSA — A federal police officer was killed in a late-night shooting Friday which left three others dead, a Mexican newspaper reported.
At about 1 a.m. along the Las Fuentes colonia, a group of federal officers was confronted by armed men driving a white Dodge Ram, which led to a 30-minute shootout with federal agents.
Pedro Moreno Feria, the federal officer killed, received a bullet wound through his arm so severe that it ruptured his heart and lungs. He was taken to a local hospital but later died as a result of his injuries, sources said.
The events unfolded as the driver of the Dodge Ram led federal police on a high-speed chase, during which shots were fired from both sides. The chase ended in front of Taller de Transportes Garza Herrera, a commercial area of Reynosa.
Once the chase ended, federal agents, with the help of other law enforcement agencies, surrounded the truck and ordered those inside to surrender, officials said.
When they did not give up, agents fired several shots at the truck, killing two.
According to media reports, 15 minutes later, a second vehicle approached the area. When the ambulance arrived to tend to the wounded, the driver of the Dodge Ram ran, leading agents on a second chase in which more rounds were fired. He was later slain by his pursuers.
Officials from the Policia Federal Preventiva said a high-caliber gun was found at the corner of Boulevardo Hidalgo and Las Fuentes, the site where the confrontation occurred.
The suspects killed were identified as Jose Reyes Avendaño, Jorge Castillo Fuantos and Jorge Alberto Gonzalez Arevalo.
In a separate incident, a municipal police chief was gunned down Saturday morning as he left his home in Rosarito, 12 miles south of the U.S./Mexico border in California, according the Associated Press. So far, six suspects have been arrested in that shooting.
Both shootings add to the violence that has rocked the bordering nation in the last several months.
In April, a federal agent was wounded in an early morning shootout with masked gunmen.
Recently, U.S. officials re-issued a warning to travelers headed into Mexico warning them of the violence linked to drug trafficking along the border, according to the AP.
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El Mañana contributed to this report.
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Miriam Ramirez covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach her at (956) 683-4441.
Make Mexico City seem safe in comparison.
Border War Ping!
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off this South Texas/Mexico ping list.
What a horror.
How is it that a wound to the arm can be so severe it ruptures the heart and lungs, as described in the article? I'm not understanding something.
It said "through" his arm. I'm assuming it didn't STAY in the arm.
Probably hit the arm then traveled through torso
What they said.
Baghdad south of the border.
Pretty rough stuff.
When a high velocity round hits the brachial artery, the hydrostatic shock wave transmitted through the circulatory system can, indeed, injure internal organs.
Back before the U.S. Army (in its great wisdom) increased the rifling twist rate on the M-16 barrel, the bullets used to "tumble" when they hit flesh -- doing horrific damage of this sort. That is why the VC & NVA feared "that black rifle" so much at first...
The Monitor/ElManana
I don't think I have seen it posted that way. New to me.
The killings. Just another one. This is weekly down here. Reynosa is only 10 miles from McAllen.
El Mañana in Mexico contributed to this report.
I understand that. It is that I have never seen in typed together as posted.
ping
All this violence makes it clear there is a impending change in the territorial franchise for drugs along the border.
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