Ballistics findings and the police account
Ballistic tests by the Tamaulipas Attorney General's Office traced the fatal bullet to a weapon used by State Guard personnel, according to Latin Times. Authorities have not publicly named the officer who fired it. Prosecutors said Aranza, who was born in the United States, was struck in the head.
An El País investigation, reported by Latin Times, described the projectile as a 7.62-millimeter bullet with a downward trajectory consistent with a shot fired from an aircraft.
Tamaulipas Attorney General Jesus Govea said the officers involved remained free as investigators continued their work. "Significant progress is being made in the course of the investigation," he said, according to CBS.
Govea said officers had been responding to gunfire from the ground. The state's Public Security Department gave a similar account, saying the helicopter was on a reconnaissance flight when it reportedly came under fire and officers fired back. The department offered condolences and said it was assisting prosecutors.
The family's account
Aranza's mother, Claudia Edith Pardo García, told Mexican media that she, her husband and five children were traveling together when they saw a police helicopter following their vehicle. After the family stopped, she said, her husband stepped out and told officers they were civilians traveling with children. The officers nevertheless opened fire, she said.
Pardo García also suffered a gunshot wound to her knee. She said the family waited approximately two hours at the scene before medical assistance arrived, according to Latin Times. Her rehabilitation is expected to take five to seven months.
Aranza was in second grade and was one of seven siblings. Her family called her "La China," Latin Times reported.
Cartel arrest and roadblock deaths
The shooting occurred on the day federal forces arrested Axel Alfredo Cárdenas Rodríguez, whom authorities describe as second in command of the Gulf Cartel's Ciclones faction. Mexico's security secretary has linked him to killings, kidnappings and extortion, as well as trafficking drugs, weapons and people into the United States.
Armed groups responded to the arrest by burning vehicles and blocking major roads. Mexican media reported six deaths that day. Four people died when they crashed into a burning bus that blocked a highway; a 3-year-old boy survived that crash with serious injuries, according to Fox Antonio. Another person died in a collision with a vehicle being used as a roadblock.
Cárdenas Rodríguez is the son of José Alfredo Cárdenas Martínez, known as "El Contador," the alleged leader of the Ciclones faction, and a nephew of former Gulf Cartel leader Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, according to Mexico News Daily.
Mexico's Ministry of National Defense said Cárdenas Rodríguez had been arrested in May 2023 and released in January 2024 while his legal proceedings continued, Mexico News Daily reported. He is also accused of responsibility for a May 17, 2026, attack on federal protection agents that killed one officer.
Following the violence triggered by the arrest, the ministry sent 450 troops and two helicopters to Matamoros and other Tamaulipas municipalities to restore order, according to Mexico News Daily.
