After McAllen cartel kidnapping, authorities eye spillover threat
McALLEN — Suspected drug cartel hitmen held two men against their will before shooting them Sunday night in south McAllen.
Both men escaped with their lives.
The men knew their suspected captors upon encountering them at a parking lot outside Wal-Mart, 1200 E. Jackson Ave., police said. One man suspected of the kidnappings and shootings remained in police custody Monday afternoon.
"We suspect cartel activity by some or all of the persons we’re looking at right now," McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez said Monday morning. "We don’t know the motive at this point in time."
Despite that, law enforcement officials said the cartel-related incident does not demonstrate an example of "spillover" violence — often described by the national media as cartel-related violence on U.S. soil, but described by local authorities as an active incident of violence literally spilling north of the Rio Grande from Mexico.
Rather, it appears the kidnapping-turned-shooting was another in a long line of violent incidents involving victims and criminals with ties to drug trafficking — not the general public, authorities said.
"The jury is still out as to who is involved here and what happened," said John Johnson, who heads the FBI’s office in McAllen. "In general … the vast majority of kidnappings we get involved with are drug-related. That’s the way this threat has evolved here."
Investigators believe the two men voluntarily left with the suspected kidnappers in a Chevrolet Tahoe about 10:30 p.m. Sunday. When one of the men became concerned he was being held against his will, he bailed out of the SUV and was shot, the chief said. He then fled to a nearby Med-Care EMS ambulance facility, which reported the incident to police.
The other victim was left near a canal close to the intersection of McColl and El Rancho Roads, police said.
One of the victims remains hospitalized, while the other has been treated and released.
Rodriguez confirmed the suspect and victims’ suspected ties to Mexican drug cartels without specifying which organized crime group was behind it.
The kidnappings occurred as the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas, the two dominant and once-allied drug trafficking mobs that control lucrative smuggling routes through Tamaulipas state and into the Rio Grande Valley, have separated and are vying to become the dominant cartel in the region, U.S. law enforcement officials have said.
"They are targeting and killing rival cartel members, innocent Mexican civilians, police and senior government officials among others," said Department of Homeland Security Deputy Press Secretary Matt Chandler. "We are not, however, seeing any indication of similar violence here in the U.S."
Despite that, jumps in violent incidents on the U.S. side of the border have been minimal compared to the scores of recent killings reported in Tamaulipas border communities, from Matamoros to Nuevo Laredo.
"The only time this is going to subside and we will have a lessening of the violence situation is when one of the two cartels becomes the dominant one," Johnson said. "We have seen it in Nuevo Laredo, we’re seeing it in Juarez and now we’re seeing it here, as well."
However, Johnson said "here" does not include the Rio Grande Valley, which has been spared the widespread violence. In Hidalgo County, there have been four murders reported this year — three that were drug-related.
The most recent slaying, on March 8, involved two undocumented Mexican nationals who allegedly shot an unidentified illegal immigrant who arrived at a house north of Weslaco to collect money on a seized drug load.
That incident may be considered Mexican drug cartel-related, as well, Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Treviño said, but "it depends on what definition you use."
"If you have the time to sit there and connect a million dots, at some point the end dot is going to be in the lap of some cartel member," the sheriff said. "You have to be really naïve to not realize that."
Reports of drug violence south of the border gained national attention Sunday after three people with ties to the U.S Consulate in Juarez, across the border from El Paso, were gunned down in a drive-by shooting.
The slayings were deplored by President Barack Obama, and prompted Gov. Rick Perry to demand federal lawmakers to boost funding for border security and prevent spillover violence on U.S. soil.
"How many Americans will have to die before our federal government takes serious action along the Texas-Mexico border," the governor said in a statement. "For years, they have failed in their vital duty to secure the border, resulting in escalating violence along the Texas-Mexico border."
Possible incidents of spillover violence have hit the Rio Grande Valley in recent years. But they have remained the exception to the rule of violent acts between drug cartels, street gangs and those who involve themselves with drug smuggling, officials said.
One recent example occurred in November 2009, a McAllen resident was kidnapped at a Starbucks Coffee shop near La Plaza Mall. His captors held him for ransom, but was found four days later after Reynosa police found him at a home on the city’s northeast side.
The man had no apparent ties to drug trafficking, authorities said.
"Those are the exceptions," Johnson said. "If you’re a law-abiding citizen in McAllen, Texas, I think that the probability that you’re going to be picked up by the cartel in a kidnapping situation are very, very low."
