Shots apparently fired from Juárez pelt El Paso City Hall, enter office - El Paso Times
EL PASO — Several gunshots apparently fired from Juárez hit El Paso City Hall on Tuesday afternoon.
No one was hurt, but nerves were rattled at City Hall in what is thought to be the first cross-border gunfire during a drug war that has engulfed Juárez since 2008.
El Paso police spokesman Darrel Petry said investigators do not think City Hall was intentionally targeted but rather was struck by stray shots.
“It does appear the rounds may have come from an incident in Juárez,” Petry said.
City Hall, whose east and west sides are covered by glass windows, sits on a hill about a half-mile north of the Rio Grande.
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A Mexican federal police Blackhawk helicopter and a smaller helicopter were flying in circles over west Juárez after that shooting. A Border Patrol helicopter was later flying on the U.S. side.
More than 1,300 people have been murdered in Juárez this year as a war continues relentlessly between the Juárez and Sinaloa drug cartels.
Daytime shootings, grisly mutilations and ambushes of police have become common.
Attacks on government leaders in Mexico have also increased.
But Tuesday’s shooting was thought to be the first time that bullets shot in Juárez hit El Paso during the current violence, Petry said. The last time bullets fired in Juárez landed in El Paso was probably celebratory gunfire during New Year’s Day in 2000, he said.