http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/new ... 748731.htm

Posted on Mon, Jan. 30, 2006

Man shot to death in violent Mexican border city


Associated Press

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico - Assailants in this embattled border city shot and killed a 25-year-old man outside a house where a party was being held, police said Monday.

The victim, who has not been identified, was killed late Sunday in downtown Nuevo Laredo, across the Rio Grande from Laredo, Texas, said Jose Gaznares, a police commander for Tamaulipas state, where Nuevo Laredo is located.

Witnesses told reporters a group of gunmen traveling in an old car opened fire on the victim as he stood outside the house.

Investigators recovered five bullet casings from the scene but have made no arrests, Gaznares said.

The latest shooting brings the number of homicides in Nuevo Laredo to 22 since the beginning of the year. Most of the victims have been men between the ages of 20 and 28, authorities say.

Violence in Nuevo Laredo has spiked since early last year. U.S. and Mexican authorities blame two powerful drug cartels battling for control of the area's key smuggling corridors into the United States.