U.S. Federal Officers Fired On By Mexican Drug Runners From Across Border Into Texas

My San Antonio:

BROWNSVILLE — A shootout on the Rio Grande between U.S. law enforcement officers and Mexican drug runners left at least three of the drug traffickers wounded, the Department of Public Safety said Thursday.

DPS spokeswoman Tela Mange said the gunfire broke out somewhere in Hidalgo County early Thursday but could not be more specific for security reasons and said she had no information on whether any of the U.S. officers were wounded.

Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Trevino said the shootout occurred in the Hidalgo County community of Abram and said none of the U.S. law enforcement personnel was injured.

He said the operation involved Texas Rangers, Texas Parks and Wildlife game wardens and the U.S. Border Patrol and that sheriff’s deputies were among those on the scene “after the fact.”

Mange said shootout came when officers participating in a multi-agency “Texas Ranger Reconnaissance” operation attempted to stop a large drug load from coming across the river.

Officers arrived in three patrol boats after spotting a suspicious vehicle on the U.S. bank of the river and two boats full of drugs on the water, and “received heavy gunfire from the Mexico side” while attempting to interdict the boats, she said.
Rosendo Hinojosa, chief patrol agent for the Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Valley sector, confirmed agents were part of the operation and said the team returned fire after the narco-traffickers fired first.

It was unclear what happened to the wounded or whether arrests were made. Mexican authorities were notified of the abandoned boat loads of drugs and were on the scene, the DPS said.

“A multi-agency investigation is currently underway and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the FBI, the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Government of Mexico are working closely to determine the complete circumstances of the shooting,” Hinojosa said.
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, called it a “brazen attack” and added, “Cartel-related violence along our border is real and escalating, and the Administration cannot continue to deny it when American lives — particularly those of our law enforcement – are directly in harm’s way.”

Gov. Rick Perry in September of 2009 announced the establishment of the reconnaissance teams to bolster what he said were inadequate federal resources along the Texas-Mexico border.

The teams, comprised of Texas Rangers and Texas National Guard Counterdrug forces, are deployed to high-traffic, high-crime areas to help stem the flow of contraband, according to an agency news release.