MEXICO CITY — Authorities are investigating whether police were responsible for the shooting death of a 7-year-old American girl during an operation last month to detain an alleged drug trafficker in the border city of Matamoros.
The girl was shot during an operation by military and police forces on Oct. 29 to detain Axel Alfredo Cárdenas Rodríguez, the alleged second-in-command of Los Ciclones, a faction of the Gulf Cartel.
Authorities in Tamaulipas state are investigating whether the gunshots that killed the girl and wounded her mother were fired from a State Guard helicopter participating in the operation, state Attorney General Jesús Eduardo Govea Orozco confirmed Monday.
The U.S. Embassy in Mexico City did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Cárdenas Rodríguez was detained for his alleged responsibility in murder, kidnapping, extortion and drug trafficking to the United States, Mexican Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch said. Cárdenas Rodríguez is also accused in a May attack on the Security Secretariat that led to the death of one police officer.
Matamoros lies across the Rio Grande from Brownsville, Texas. During the Oct. 29 operation, the U.S. Consulate there warned employees to shelter in place.
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