In what may be the first incident of its kind, bullets apparently fired during a drug gang gun battle in Juarez, Mexico, flew across the Rio Grande Tuesday and struck the El Paso City Hall building that sits about a half mile north of the river.
No one inside the building was injured, but some people in the building were shaken, the El Paso Times reported.
The building's east and west sides are covered by glass windows.
About 4:50 p.m. Tuesday, a bullet penetrated a ninth-floor west side window in the office of Assistant City Manager Pat Adauto. That bullet then went through an interior wall before striking and stopping in a picture frame.
El Paso police spokesman Darrel Petry said investigators do not think City Hall was intentionally targeted but rather was struck by stray shots. Juarez has suffered through a deadly drug cartel war for years.
"It does appear the rounds may have come from an incident in Juárez," El Paso police spokesman Darrel Petry told the newspaper. He said there was a shooting incident at about the same time not far away in Juarez, the Times reported.
-- Lance Murray
No one inside the building was injured, but some people in the building were shaken, the El Paso Times reported.
The building's east and west sides are covered by glass windows.
About 4:50 p.m. Tuesday, a bullet penetrated a ninth-floor west side window in the office of Assistant City Manager Pat Adauto. That bullet then went through an interior wall before striking and stopping in a picture frame.
El Paso police spokesman Darrel Petry said investigators do not think City Hall was intentionally targeted but rather was struck by stray shots. Juarez has suffered through a deadly drug cartel war for years.
"It does appear the rounds may have come from an incident in Juárez," El Paso police spokesman Darrel Petry told the newspaper. He said there was a shooting incident at about the same time not far away in Juarez, the Times reported.
-- Lance Murray
Seems that while this may not be intentional or directly "targetting" City Hall that this report should make be in our nation's headlines.
I really don't think the general poputlation understand the seriousness along our Southern border. Heaven forbid anybody getting hurt by this sort of situation but I don't think it could have come much closer to doing just that. Is that what it's going to take to get a National headline?
I am very sorry that our Federal government won't step in to do their job. How could they have prevented this? I believe that we could put so much pressure on Mexican government that they would have no choice but to completely clean up their side of the border! If not then we should with troops. If that means Mexico feels "invaded" tell them to wear our shoes and see what it feels like to be "invaded" for decades.
Chuck
Posted by: Chuck | June 30, 2010 at 12:56 PM
Those rounds could of just as easily hit a vehicle on I-10 that goes within a few hundred yards of Juarez while winding it's way through El Paso...a chilling thought that you might get shot in the US from Mexican Gang war shots!!!
Posted by: David | June 30, 2010 at 03:10 PM