MONTERREY, Nuevo Leon – Three gunmen from Los Zetas died during a clash with state police Wednesday. At the time of the shootout, the gunmen kept the body of an unidentified man in the trunk of a vehicle. It remains unclear when the man died.

The shooting took place Wednesday afternoon near rural Fresnillo when Nuevo Leon state police spotted a black Chevrolet Tahoe without license plates, Nuevo Leon’s Fuerza Civil revealed. Moments after spotting the officers, cartel gunmen began shooting as they tried to drive away.

Officers chased the men as they exchanged fire until the gunmen crashed against the wall of a home. The gunmen continued to shoot at authorities until all three died.

Authorities searched the vehicle and discovered a handcuffed body with tape around the head. It remains unclear if the victim died during the shootout or beforehand.

The rural area is under the control of the Cartel Del Noreste (CDN) faction of Los Zetas, which carries out highway robberies between Monterrey and Nuevo Laredo. The region has also seen a large number of mass graves that CDN-Los Zetas gunmen used to bury kidnapping victims.

Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to the Mexican States of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities. The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in those areas including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas if a pseudonym were not used. Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and in their original Spanish. This article was written by Tony Aranda from Nuevo Leon.