A group of Gulf Cartel gunmen ambushed a group of police officers in a coordinated attack that killed two officers and injured two others. The fatal attack is just another example of shootouts that plague the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas despite attempts by government officials to conceal the severity of the violence.
Surveillance video from the attack captured the moment when dark-colored SUVs box in a Tamaulipas police vehicle. Without warning, gunmen inside one of the SUVs fire several rounds into the police vehicle before driving away.
The driver of the police vehicle lost control and crashed into a wall. In that crash, two police officers died and two others were seriously injured. The two fallen officers have been identified as Brenda Murillo Roman and Tomas Eduardo Cabrales Marquez. Over the weekend, authorities held a funeral ceremony that gave the fallen officers full honors.
The fatal ambush came just one day after dozens of factory workers were forced to seek cover after being caught in another cartel shootout. In the days that followed, the city experienced several shootouts that public officials have tried to downplay.
As Breitbart Texas has reported, the brunt of the violence in Reynosa is tied to a fierce turf war between rival factions of the Gulf Cartel. The Metros faction, which controls Reynosa, has been fighting off the advances of the Escorpiones faction which is based in the border city of Matamoros. Despite more than three months of fighting, government officials at the state and federal levels have done little to target the Gulf Cartel and its various operations.
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
“J.C. Sanchez” and “Francisco Morales” from Tamaulipas contributed to this report.
