UTB/TSC closes campus in response to Matamoros shootout

BROWNSVILLE — University of Texas-Brownsville/Texas Southmost College is closed for the weekend after officials said bullets from a shootout in Mexico hit a building and a car on campus.

University police on Friday asked students and faculty to leave campus after bullets were found to have struck the Recreation, Education and Kinesiology Center, also known as the REK building, and a car at the Life and Health Sciences building.

UTB/TSC police Lt. Armando Pullido said students on Friday were being asked to avoid buildings on the south side of campus.

“We’re closing down the campus at 5 p.m.,” he said. “Students are being asked to leave.”

The school will be closed until Tuesday.

UTB/TSC Public Information Director Letty Fernandez confirmed bullets struck the building and car.

The shooting reportedly began about 1:30 p.m. near Calle Primera and Calle Canales. Neighbors in the area said they heard gunshots and loud explosions for more than an hour.

The gunfire was said to have spread to the intersection of Calle Nicaragua and Calle Acapulco in Colonia Delicias. The Mexican army seized a refrigerator from a home in the area, but it was unclear why. The army declined to comment, stating a news release would be sent out soon.

As the gunfire continued, Mexican soldiers with the 10th Motorized Cavalry Regiment closed off major streets in Matamoros to keep the public from carelessly driving into the area were the shooting was taking place.

“We are sorry, ma’am, but for your safety we are asking you to back up your car and leave the area,” a masked soldier said to an elderly woman who drove toward a military Humvee that was blocking off Calle Primera.

A white SUV was left riddled with bullet holes along one of the side streets in the colonia.

More than 20 military Humvees and almost a dozen federal police trucks with .50-caliber machine guns and automatic grenade launchers mounted on the roofs left toward the army station at Calle 8 and Calle Gonzalez.

Soldiers on foot escorted the convoy along Gonzalez.

Passersby curiously pointed at a large white refrigerator that was being taken to the military installation under heavy guard.

A maroon automobile with bullet holes was abandoned during the shooting near the Calle Primera offices of El Bravo newspaper.

Eddie Perez, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection field supervisor, said there were no plans to close any of the international bridges between Brownsville and Matamoros.

In response to the shooting in Mexico, Cameron County Sheriff Omar Lucio said he dispatched his deputies to the bridges and to the river levees to prevent any violence from spilling over to the U.S. side of the border.

“They (the Mexican army) are doing a very good job in their fight on drugs,” Lucio said. “We mobilized our manpower just as a precaution. The problem is that when a bullet exits the barrel, its direction is anyone’s guess. That’s why we need to take precautions.”

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Ildefonso Ortiz is a reporter for The Brownsville Herald.