A 16-year-old minor-league professional soccer player and his mother died after his family’s vehicle was repeatedly struck by cartel gunfire along a highway near the Texas border. The victims were misidentified during a firefight, authorities said.

The family was driving their vehicle along the highway that connects the border cities of Reynosa and Rio Bravo when a team of gunmen shot them in an apparent case of mistaken identity, the Tamaulipas Attorney General’s Office said. During the attack, a woman and her underage son were killed, while an underage girl and the family’s father were injured, authorities noted. The family was traveling from the rural town of Valle Hermoso to Reynosa at the time. The teams of gunmen were pursuing another vehicle when they encountered the family and fired at them, according to authorities.



Mexico’s Soccer Federation (FEMEXFUT) issued a statement confirming that 16-year-old Christian Humberto Suarez Hernandez and his mother, Fabiola Hernandez Romero, died in the attack. Suarez Hernandez played for Real San Cosme, a minor league team.

La FMF Lamenta el Fallecimiento del Jugador Christian Humberto Suárez Hernández y su Señora Madre, Fabiola Hernández Romero https://t.co/tdIFD9FVtt pic.twitter.com/Sy8XoljtbA — FEMEXFUT (@FMF) August 23, 2018

The attack comes at a time when the northern part of Tamaulipas continues to be a battleground between two rival factions of the Gulf Cartel. The ongoing fighting led to more than 500 murders since May 2017, including innocent bystanders.

In May 2016, cartel gunmen kidnapped top professional soccer player Alan Pulido in Ciudad Victoria. The case drew international attention. State authorities kicked off a massive search and rescue operation but Pulido was able to escape his captors.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and Stephen K. Bannon. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.

Brandon Darby is managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and Stephen K. Bannon. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.