Toddler is being treated in Texas with non-life-threatening injuries after her family’s car drove between military patrol and vehicle carrying suspects

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

A US toddler has been shot in the back by Mexican army personnel after her family’s car apparently drove between a military patrol and a vehicle carrying suspects, say officials in the border state of Tamaulipas.

Guadalupe Salinas, the head of the federal prosecutors’ office in the state, said on Wednesday that another girl in the car was grazed by a bullet and a woman suffered slight wounds from bullet or glass fragments.

Salinas said Wednesday the injuries of the 20-month-old girl aren’t life-threatening. She is being treated in San Antonio, Texas.

The woman is the mother of one of the girls. The US citizens were apparently visiting relatives in Tamaulipas last week.

The US embassy in Mexico City said it was aware of reports that a US citizen had been wounded, but could not give any other information, including the girl’s name or hometown, because of privacy considerations.

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The shooting occurred one week ago near the town of Camargo, across the border from Rio Grande City, Texas, but the reports had not been confirmed until now.

The area is dominated by the Gulf cartel, and has been the scene of turf battles both between factions of the Gulf gang and the rival Zetas cartel.

“The soldiers were following an SUV, and at that moment they (the family) got in the middle ... they got scared” and came under fire, Salinas said.

“They (soldiers) thought they were the bad guys,” Salinas said. “They got to the car and realized that, no, it was women and children.”

He said Mexican government agencies had been in contact with the family.