A group of Gulf Cartel gunmen fleeing from police in Tamaulipas killed an elderly woman when they crashed their SUV into her vehicle. The chase was part of a larger shootout between police forces and cartel gunmen who set up blockades and used road spikes as a way to slow down police forces so they could flee.
The shootout took place this week in the border city of Matamoros, Tamaulipas, when state police forces spotted a group of Gulf Cartel gunmen in a marron GMC Yukon and tried to stop them in the eastern side of the city near the Camptestre Del Rio neighborhood.
A vehicle with explosives used by cartel gunmen during a shootout in Matamoros. (Credit Breitbart Texas / Cartel Chronicles
The gunmen fled from police and began to exchange gunfire. Soon after the clash started, additional gunmen carjacked trucks to set up blockades and threw road spikes along various city streets as a way to cause traffic jams and slow down additional police forces.
Agents with the Tamaulipas Attorney General’s Office try to clear a blockade set up by gunmen. (Credit Breitbart Texas / Cartel Chronicles).
The gunmen fled along Division Del Norte Avenue until they slammed into an orange Kia Spectra driven by a 55-year-old woman and her 89-year-old mother. After the crash, the gunmen kept driving away for several blocks until they crashed their vehicle a second time, hitting a brick wall. The gunmen got out and ran away before authorities arrived. Inside the vehicle, authorities found various weapons and explosive devices. State police held the scene until Mexican Army soldiers showed up to collect the explosives.
Emergency personnel rushed to the scene of the first crash to help the two victims. However, the 89-year-old woman died from her injuries. Paramedics rushed the driver of the vehicle to a local hospital, where she was listed as stable but with serious injuries.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at
