Mexico confirms police shot US girl dead in cartel chase

• Mexican police shot and killed seven-year-old US-born girl Aranza during a helicopter chase in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, on 29 October, the state prosecutor confirmed.
• The family said they were civilians with children and stopped their pickup, but officers fired anyway; police said they were responding to an alleged attack from the ground.
• The officers remain free while investigators make “significant progress”; the case highlights the deadly risk to civilians in Mexico’s drug violence.

MEXICO CITY – Mexican police shot dead a seven-year-old American girl when they opened fire on her family’s vehicle from a helicopter during a drug enforcement operation, the state prosecutor confirmed on Nov 6.

Police captured a local criminal in Matamoros, which borders Brownsville, Texas, on Oct 29, triggering a series of street blockades by gunmen in the area.

The Tamaulipas state prosecutor’s office said on Nov 6 that Aranza, a seven-year-old who was born in the United States, was hit in the head by police gunfire.

The girl’s mother told Mexican media she was travelling with five children and her husband in a pickup truck when they noticed a police helicopter was following them.

She said the family stopped the vehicle and her husband got out to say they were civilians with children, but they were fired at anyway.

Tamaulipas Attorney-General Jesus Govea told Mexico’s Milenio network the officers were responding to “an attack they allegedly came under” from the ground during the roadblocks.

The officers who opened fire remain free but “significant progress is being made in the course of the investigation”, Govea said.

Numerous civilians have died in the crossfire of drug-related violence in Mexico over the past two decades. AFP