Three shootouts between cartel hitmen and police officers took place at three different locations in Matamoros, Tamaulipas in one day.
At approximately 4:00 pm on the afternoon of January 7, 2022, the emergency phone line received a report of heavily armed men being seen in the San Francisco neighborhood of the city of Matamoros. El Financiero writes that the hitmen belonged to the Gulf Cartel (Cártel del Golfo, CDG).
A patrol unit of State Police personnel was dispatched to respond to the report. As the state officers drove down Diagonal Cuauhtémoc street within the San Francisco neighborhood, they were allegedly shot at by armed men who were inside two vehicles, one a white pick-up truck, another a gold-colored SUV. The officers returned fire towards the vehicles while they radioed for backup and eventually the two vehicles belonging to the hitmen tried to flee, leading to officers and police reinforcements giving chase.
A white Ford F150 pick-up truck belonging to the hitmen was chased after by officers into the Santa Cruz neighborhood, where further shootouts occurred, leaving two people injured. The photo of a white pick-up truck, as seen below, reportedly shows the bullet damage that resulted from the firefight.
In a second chase, State Police officers were able to stop a gold Chevrolet Suburban SUV on Del Maestro Avenue, between Canales and Lucero streets, in the La Alianza neighborhood after a fierce gunfight. Two different twitter videos captured the sound of the Del Maestro street gunfights.
Photos of the damaged vehicle, as seen below, allegedly depict the hitmen’s vehicle from after Del Maestro Avenue shootout.
There are unconfirmed social media reports of a similar-looking gold GMC SUV being mistaken for the hitmen’s gold Suburban SUV. The GMC SUV allegedly suffered attacks from State officers who confused the two vehicles.
As a result of the initial shootout and two subsequent gunfights, police were able to arrest two men while also seizing firearms, a radio, and metal stars known as "ponchallantas", which are tire puncture devices.
The former mayor of Matamoros, Leticia Salazar, was one of the first to tweet out and warn the residents of the city of the shootings. She wrote:
"This afternoon there is, unfortunately, a risky situation in different parts of the city, among them Alianza, Canales Avenue, Periferico, and Diagonal. I ask you to exercise extreme caution when traveling, let's all take care of ourselves. God Bless #Matamoros”
Only in Matamoros the organization divided itself into two factions instead of protecting the border a gold mine of a corridor and not letting outsiders use it .
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