Posted on 05/27/2006 6:31:12 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
One man is dead and three others in custody following an early morning shootout Friday in Nuevo Laredo between state police and drug cartel gunmen believed responsible for at least 10 homicides here — including the death of a local police officer Thursday night.
The firefight, which started about 1 a.m., ignited when a team of state police officers approached a home they suspected was used by the men who hours earlier had killed police officer Jesus Segovia Sanchez, authorities said.
Two cartel members were arrested and another injured in the early morning melee. One state police officer also was injured in the shootout.
At the scene, officers discovered the body of a gunman, identified only as "El Mara" because of the distinctive Mara Salvatrucha gang tattoos on his body.
Police said the three suspects admitted at least 10 homicides, including the killings earlier this month of two state cops, one of them the chief homicide investigator, according to a press release issued by the state attorney general's office.
The suspects, who were in the driveway of the home when the officers arrived, opened fire and the shootout dragged out for more than an hour, said a U.S. investigator briefed by Mexican authorities on the incident.
The news release identified the arrested men as Juan Francisco Ortiz Rocha, Erick Mendez Hernandez and Oscar Leonel Mendoza Padilla. A fifth cartel member involved in the shootout escaped.
The captured men belong to the Sinaloa Cartel, which is locked in a turf battle with the Gulf Cartel for control of smuggling corridors into Texas, the U.S. official said. That battle is responsible for about 120 slayings in Nuevo Laredo this year.
On Thursday, Segovia became the 11th law enforcement authority to be gunned down here this year, authorities said Friday.
Assailants armed with AK-47 assault rifles opened fire on Segovia and his partner, Sergio Omar Escobedo, who was wounded in the shootout.
He was listed in stable condition at a hospital after being shot four times — once in the side, once in the right leg, and once in each arm.
Investigators said the two officers, Segovia and Escobedo, were on patrol when they ran into high-caliber gunfire from a moving a white four-door Crown Victoria.
An all-points search led investigators to a side street off Kilometer 10 south of Nuevo Laredo where they caught up with one of the arrested men, Ortiz Rocha. Officers said Ortiz Rocha fingered the others and in a matter of minutes, police officers were at a downtown location on Reynosa Street where the second shooting occurred.
The Tamaulipas attorney general spokesperson told the Laredo Morning Times the suspects provided details of several shootings in Nuevo Laredo carried out between May 8-16.
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mcastillo@express-news.net
The Associated Press and Laredo Morning Times contributed to this report.
I'm shocked---shocked !!!!
A day without a shootout down there would be big news.
Nuevo Laredo was a sewer when I was robbed there in 1969 and it is still a sewer, only with more gun fire.
Murder Suspects Shot and Arrested in Nuevo Laredo!!
When the cops have a shootout with the criminals, how can you tell which side everybody is on?
AAAAAAAgin???
The Mexican army last year, or so, took over the border city of Nuevo Laredo b/c of the complete breakdown of law and order.
Nuevo Laredo is (was?) one of the principle staging areas for illegals of all nations who gravitate to Central America, then come to Mexico to arrange covert transportation into the US.
The town is out of control.
The federales cannot, or will not, do anything to bring it back into control. The local police force is hopelessly overmatched
Nothing short of an armed invasion by a military strike force, fully armed and with authority to shoot to kill, will have much effect.
And it probably would create considerable collateral damage.
Okie-doke.
"When the cops have a shootout with the criminals, how can you tell which side everybody is on?"
Oh, that was harsh! The cops usually wear the same clothes.
R O T F L M A O
I'm hoping for this screaming headline:
Nuevo Laredo Passes Week without Murder. Police Families relieved.
Governor of Tamps. Declares Day of Rejoicing.
When the cops have a shootout with the criminals, how can you tell which side everybody is on?
Well, if they keep shooting the Sinaloa cartel members, you can assume that the Gulf cartel members are spending the big bucks to keep the police on their side.
On the other hand, if the Sinaloa cartel bunch keeps killing and assassinating cops, it's a sign that the cops didn't stay bribed because the Gulf cartel overbid them.
Simple when you know how the game is played in Mexico.
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