7-Year-Old American Girl Killed by Mexican Police During Cartel Chase Near US Border

A 7-year-old American-born girl was killed after Mexican police opened fire from a helicopter during an operation targeting a Gulf Cartel leader.

The girl, Aranza, was struck in the head by gunfire and died on Oct. 29, according to CBS News and the Tamaulipas state prosecutor’s office, which has launched an investigation into the police shooting.

Aranza’s family was traveling through Matamoros after armed men had established roadblocks following the capture of a local gang member when the gunfire erupted.

Aranza’s mother told Mexican media that she was driving with her husband and their five children when they noticed a police helicopter following them through the border city, located across from Brownsville, Texas.

After the family stopped, Aranza’s father stepped out of the vehicle and told authorities that they were civilians traveling with children. Police nevertheless opened fire, the family said.

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Mexican broadcaster Milenio reported that all five children were younger than 14. Aranza’s mother tried to shield them with her body, but a bullet struck Aranza in the head.

Tamaulipas Attorney General Jesús Govea told Milenio that officers were responding to an attack from the ground and came under fire amid the roadblocks.

Govea said the officers who opened fire had not been detained, although he described the investigation as making “significant progress.”

According to KABB-TV, the operation targeted Alfredo Cárdenas Rodríguez, known as Axel, a suspected high-ranking member of the Ciclones faction of the Gulf Cartel.

After Cárdenas Rodríguez was captured, Mexico’s Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch wrote on X that he had been linked to homicides, kidnappings, extortion, and the trafficking of drugs, weapons and people into the United States.