08/23/10 – This past Saturday, a shootout between federal police and an armed group took place at the border that separates El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. Early reports indicated that the firefight got as close as 30 yards away from the border line; one criminal was killed and another was injured meanwhile two elements of the Secretariat of Public Security (Secretaría de Seguridad Pública) were wounded. As requested by the U.S. Border Patrol, police in El Paso closed a highway located next to the border for nearly one hour to protect commuters.
The gunfight first began when the crime group began shooting at police patrolling a road that runs parallel to the border in Ciudad Juárez. The violence escalated further when federal police officers arrived to provide assistance. It was first reported that no bullets strayed into the U.S. side, but a statement released by the president of the University of Texas at El Paso, Dr. Diana Natalicio, confirmed that at least one bullet struck the side of a building on campus. Fortunately, no injuries were reported at the school. A similar shootout occurred near the border on June 28th and resulted in at least seven bullets striking the side of City Hall in El Paso.
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