Four alleged gunmen were shot dead Monday in a shootout with Mexican marines in the Mexican border town of Matamoros, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
The marines were investigating a kidnapping when the shootout occurred, per the report. The marines reportedly were not injured, and they recovered guns and radios from the scene.
The shootout led to the U.S. Consulate in Matamoros issuing a shelter-in-place alert on X.
Tamaulipas Governor Américo Villarreal announced Monday the deployment of 100 patrols and two helicopters to enhance security in the state, per an official statement from his office. (RELATED: ‘Like A Bad Dream’: Family Speaks Out After Mexico Kidnapping)
Four people were killed Monday in a shootout with Mexican marines in the border city of Matamoros, triggering an alert to shelter in place from the U.S. consulate in the city across the Rio Grande from Brownsville, Texas. https://t.co/V7YcYegeGk
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) September 5, 2023
The U.S. Department of State issued its highest-level travel advisory – Do Not Travel – for Tamaulipas State on August 22, citing “crime and kidnapping.”
Matamoros, located in Mexico’s Tamaulipas State, is about three miles south of Brownsville, Texas, across the Rio Grande.
U.S. citizens Shaeed Woodard and Zindell Brown were killed in Matamoros in March during an apparent kidnapping as they accompanied Eric Williams and Latavia “Tay” McGee from Texas into Matamoros for McGee’s cosmetic surgery, the AP separately noted. Areli Pablo Servando, a 33-year-old Mexican woman, was felled apparently by a stray bullet during the incident. Williams and McGee survived. The Scorpion faction of the Gulf cartel reportedly issued an apology, and handed the kidnappers to Mexican authorities for having “gone against the cartel’s rules, which include ‘respecting the life and well-being of the innocent.'”