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SWAT teams dispatched to U.S.-Mexican border

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
November 10th, 2011
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

A shootout between where the Mexican military and a group of gunmen near the U.S.-Mexican border has drawn SWAT teams to contain the violence. The SWAT teams responded to a ranch near Escobares, where a shootout broke out south of the Rio Grande.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Details about the confrontation have not been made immediately available. Residents on the U.S. side reportedly saw members of the U.S. Border Patrol and Starr County Sheriff's Office securing the area near the border.

Border Patrol spokeswoman Rosalinda Huey says that agents had been pursuing a suspected drug load near La Rosita, and had pushed it back to Mexico. Border Patrol alerted Mexican authorities of the suspected load. An injured Mexican national was found on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande, Huey said.

The man, a suspected cartel gunman, had been shot by Mexican authorities, U.S. authorities say. An official confirmed a group of as many as 15 gunmen had crossed the Rio Grande, though it remained unclear whether they were Mexican soldiers or cartel gunmen.

"We don't know who they are," the official said. "We haven't gotten that information yet."

Local authorities in Hidalgo County have provided backup along the Rio Grande as the Border Patrol dispatched additional agents from the McAllen area to the incident in rural Starr County.

Ricardo Guerra, whose brother owns La Prieta Ranch in La Rosita described the incident as unnerving. Guerra was overseeing the ranch hands shortly after noon when they noticed that the roads near the property became quickly swarmed with authorities.

"Yeah, you worry when that happens," Guerra said. "We all went back inside the house. It looks like there was something going on over there (Mexico); we heard four or five shots from the helicopter. It looks like the (Mexican military) helicopter was shooting at the people on the ground over there."

While he heard the shots, Guerra's property soon swarmed with more than 100 law enforcement officials from various agencies.

"We saw them take one guy in an ambulance," Guerra said. "He looked in bad shape."

© 2011, Catholic Online. Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.

Article brought to you by: Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)