Four shots fired from Mexico [also known as ‘300 rounds exchanged during Texas border shootout’]
Law enforcement officials involved in Thursday’s shootout with alleged Mexican drug smugglers near Abram backed off their initial statement that officers came under “heavy fire” at the Rio Grande.
Instead, they said that the smugglers shot at least four rounds and threw rocks at U.S. authorities, who fired back with more than 300 bullets, possibly injuring three of the smugglers.
However Steve McCraw, director for the Texas Department of Public Safety, defended the reaction of the agencies involved, saying the threat to game wardens, Texas Rangers and U.S. Border Patrol agents was very real.
“We know there were more than four shots fired from the Mexican side and at that point, the game wardens, the Texas rangers and Border Patrol returned fire,” McCraw said during a news conference called to discuss details of the incident.
He also said the Mexican Army seized 400 pounds of marijuana as a result of the incident.
“There were no RPGs, there were no mortar rounds, there were no .50 caliber, but certainly there was at least six shots fired and from our standpoint that’s one too many,” he said, contradicting his earlier statement about the number of shots.
[…]
McCraw makes himself sound like a nut.
“We know there were more than four shots fired”.
Yep. Six is more than four.
“…but certainly there was at least six shots fired and from our standpoint that’s one too many…”.
So, five is OK?
The incident happened Thursday morning. Here’s the first article from the Brownsville Herald:
The Texas Department of Public Safety is reporting a shootout occurred this morning between U.S. law enforcement and a Mexican drug cartel.This is from the second one, Thursday afternoon:The shootout happened as a multi-agency Texas Ranger Recon Operation were attempting to interdict a large drug load along the Rio Grande, the DPS is reporting.
The incident happened in Mission, near the Chimney Park area.
Authorities said three suspected drug runners were injured in the shootout.
A “suspicious” vehicle on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande along with two “cartel drug recovery boats,” were spotted by U.S. lawmen.
As three law enforcement patrol boats approached the groups, the came under heavy gunfire from the Mexico side, the DPS said.
Among the agencies involved in the shootout were U.S. Parks and Wildlife, Texas Rangers and the U.S. Border Patrol.
DPS spokeswoman Lisa Block says one agent suffered only minor injuries. Spokeswoman Tela Mange said the agents came under “heavy fire” but would not say how long the ensuing shootout lasted. [emphasis added]
[…]
Information from several sources late Thursday raises questions regarding a report from the Texas Department of Public Safety about a shootout early in the day where U.S. authorities reportedly came under “heavy fire.”The link at the top is from their third article, published Friday.Two independent sources, one from the U.S. and one from Mexico, said that only six shots were heard from the Mexican side. They said the bullets hit the ground.
DPS officials said that the incident occurred shortly after 6 a.m., but they didn’t disclose the location. Other sources placed it south of Abram at 6:23 a.m.
[…]
Here’s the source of the “300 rounds exchanged” headline, which is also from Friday:
U.S. law enforcement officials exchanged about 300 rounds of gunfire with suspected drug runners during a pre-dawn shootout across the Rio Grande, but only about six came from the suspects, authorities said Friday.So the term “exchanged” can include the case of “six from one and 294 from the other.” Good to know.The Texas Department of Public Safety, whose Rangers were involved in the shootout, said such an overwhelming response was standard given the United States’ zero tolerance policy when guns are pointed at its authorities. Department officials previously said the Americans were under “heavy fire,” but they’ve since backed away from that.
[…]
Authorities said they are still looking into how many Americans fired shots and what agencies they were from.
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I rarely post articles about border incidents that just happened, because the initial reports are so often so wrong. See: Ghost town owner murdered near Arizona/New Mexico border