Border securityEl Paso woman hit by stray bullet from Mexican gunfight

Published 23 February 2012

On Tuesday a woman in El Paso, Texas was hit by a stray bullet from a Mexican gun battle more than half a mile away

On Tuesday a woman in El Paso, Texas was hitby a stray bullet from a Mexican gun battle more than half a mile away.

The Los Angeles Times reports that at 11 AM on Tuesday, Maria Romero was pushing a stroller down the sidewalk when she was struck in the calf by a .223 caliber bullet, the same caliber used by Juarez police in neighboring Mexico.

Romero was treated for her wounds and the child was not injured.

In a press conference, El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen said the bullet was believed to have come from a gunfight between Juarez police and carjackers. As many as fifty shots were fired during the exchange.  

In recent years border violence has escalated as the Mexican government continues its crackdown on drug cartels and stray rounds from heated gun battles in Mexico have hit buildings in El Paso including a local High school, city hall, and a university facility at least three times in the last four years.

Gomecindo Lopez of the El Paso County Sheriff’s Department acknowledged that the most recent incident was “highly disturbing” but assured residents that local, state, and federal law enforcement agents have the area under control.

The city of El Paso remains a safe place to live even though we do have, from time to time, these types of incidents,” Lopez said to the LA Times.

Echoing Lopez, El Paso Mayor John Cook said, “This is just another difficulty for the city of El Paso and the border region when we are trying to highlight the fact that the border violence is on the decline.”

There is no way you can prevent an incident like this from happening because of the geography of the two cities,” Cook added. “If there is a gun battle that happens in El Paso, there is the possibility for bullets to stray into Mexico and vice versa.”