Ballistic evidence and the investigation
The girl, identified as Aranza, died from a gunshot wound to the head. On November 3, Tamaulipas forensic authorities confirmed that a 7.62 mm bullet recovered from her skull matched the ballistic records of the state's Public Security Secretariat (SSP). The bullet traveled downward through the vehicle's bodywork.
Public Security Secretary Carlos Arturo Pancardo Escudero said the three officers remain on duty while prosecutors determine their status. Tamaulipas Attorney General Jesús Eduardo Govea said the officers who fired the fatal shots had not been arrested, while describing significant progress in the investigation.
In a November 5 statement, the SSP acknowledged that one of its helicopters had been conducting reconnaissance during the operation. Citing preliminary information, the agency said the aircraft came under attack from the ground and that those attacks were repelled.
The family's account
Aranza's mother, Claudia Pardo García, told Mexican media that she, her husband and their five children were riding in a pickup truck when they noticed a police helicopter following them. After the family stopped, her husband stepped outside and told officers that they were civilians with children. Police nevertheless opened fire, she said.
Pardo García and one of Aranza's 13-year-old brothers were also wounded, according to the family's account reported by Mexican media.
The family said Aranza was a U.S. citizen by birth and that they had filed a complaint with the U.S. consulate. Govea said his office was maintaining contact with consular authorities because the victims were foreign citizens.
Cartel arrest and roadblocks
The operation in Matamoros, across the border from Brownsville, Texas, targeted Axel Alfredo Cárdenas, known as "Titán 7." Govea identified him as a Gulf Cartel member.
Armed men blocked several nearby streets after the arrest. Govea said officers reportedly came under fire from the ground near those roadblocks.
Six civilians, none connected to criminal groups, died in the October 29 violence. Along with Aranza, the dead included four people whose vehicle struck a burned truck on the Reynosa-Matamoros highway and one person killed in a separate crash on the Matamoros-Valle Hermoso stretch.
Call for civilian protections
Eva Reyes González, who chairs the Human Rights Commission of the Tamaulipas Congress, called for a thorough investigation into Aranza's death. She also said she would ask authorities to establish a mandatory civilian-protection protocol, known as blindaje ciudadano, for federal and state operations against organized crime.
