Recent shootouts in Nuevo Laredo have resulted in warnings from South Texas officials and an increase in security at the U.S. consulate in the border town.
In a video filmed Wednesday by a person near the shootouts in Nuevo Laredo, which sits across the border from Laredo, rounds of gunfire can be heard in the distance.
People in the video say that gunshots were heard in “different parts of the city."
The Wednesday gunbattle left six people dead, including a Tamaulipas state police officer who was killed when a convoy of police arriving to bolster security was attacked. Another officer was wounded.
South Texas sheriff warns about traveling to Nuevo Laredo amid ‘intensive shootings’
Officer Emanuel Diaz, Laredo police spokesperson, told KSAT12 that they are continuing to monitor the situation.
He called the situation “still delicate," but could not confirm if the conflict continued into Friday morning.
The U.S. consulate in Nuevo Laredo said Thursday that U.S. government personnel remained under “enhanced restrictions on their movements."
The consulate said via Twitter it was monitoring the security situation and imposed an earlier evening curfew.
Anyone needing to travel into Nuevo Laredo should use ports elsewhere on the border, Diaz said.
The Laredo Police Department continues to monitor reports of ongoing violence in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. It appears that...
Posted by Laredo Police Department on Friday, January 3, 2020
There are four national bridges connecting Laredo and Nuevo Laredo: the Gateway to the Americas, the Juarez-Lincoln International, Colombia Solidarity and the World Trade Bridge.
No one in Laredo has been injured due to the Nuevo Laredo shootings.
Death toll put at 20 for Mexico cartel attack near US border
Tamaulipas Gov. Francisco Cabeza de Vaca blamed what he called “cowardly attacks” by the Northeast cartel via Twitter Wednesday. He said the state would use all of its tools to confront criminals.
En el marco del Día Internacional del Policía, a nombre del @gobtam y las familias tamaulipecas, externo mi reconocimiento a los buenos policías que sirven a #Tamaulipas, quienes con valor, lealtad y disciplina trabajan para conservar la paz, el orden y el Estado de Derecho.
— Fco. Cabeza de Vaca (@fgcabezadevaca) January 2, 2020
Nuevo Laredo is one of seven Mexican border cities where the U.S. government returns asylum seekers to wait out their U.S. cases. It is firmly in the grip of the Northeast cartel, a faction of the Zetas.