Matamoros Gunbattles Too Close for Comfort

Reported by: Eddie Flores
Last Update: 11:00 pm
CHANNEL 5 NEWS (KRGV, 2010)

BROWNSVILLE - A Valley resident says the drug war in Mexico is getting too close for comfort for he and his neighbors.

A man we'll call "Fred" lives just a couple of hundred yards from the border to Matamoros. He says he can clearly hear battles taking place in the Mexican town and he has personally seen illegal immigrants crossing his area with weapons.

Fred and his family have lived in their home in Brownsville for more than 40 years. His house is just a couple of hundred yards away from the border fence equipped with remote cameras from above.

He says he's been constantly hearing gun battles taking place across the Rio Grande in Matamoros, including some gun battles the last two nights in a row.

Fred says he hears more than just small caliber weapons going off in Matamoros, he says he hears machine gun fire and grenades.

"I know from the sound and experience that they're automatic weapons pretty much small caliber going up to 50," he said. "I've heard explosions. I've seen the military helicopters out here at night. That's close!"

Fred says he's afraid stray bullets could easily reach a home on this side of the border and hurt innocent Americans.

"A 50 caliber would go through a thousand yards like a hot knife through butter and the guys on the other side don't care. They don't care who they hurt. They don't care how they hurt them," he said.

Fred also says he's personally seen illegal immigrants crossing through his area with weapons. "I've seen them with weapons. I've seen them with pistols tucked in their belts," he said.

"It far exceeds anything that my parents would have thought about or what I would have thought about," said Fred. ''To me this is a war zone, just nobody has declared it and people who should be taking care of it, they don't want to recognize what's going on."

Fred says some of his neighbors actually take their families further into town at night when they hear the gun battles going on in Matamoros, in fear that they could be hit by stray fire.

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