Reporting From A War Zone

Yet another example of how Mexico is turning into Colombia: Gunmen using automatic rifles open up on a marked police vehicle in Nuevo Laredo -- in the driveway of the police headquarters complex. The shooting injures two federales and one of two prisoners with them.

THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY: San Antonio Express-News Laredo bureau reporter Mariano Castillo (whom I've known since his days in the Rio Grande Valley) doesn't explicitly mention this in his story, but you can tell from his detailed account that he was on the scene when the shooting began:

For the uninitiated, the first thought when the drum roll-like sound pierced the air was -- "Is that what I think it is?"

I asked Mariano if he was there when the attack went down, and he emailed me back:

I guess you could say I was in the right place at the right time. (Or is it the wrong place at the wrong time?) I had just parked at the police station and was walking toward the door when the shooting happened less than a block away.

They edited part of my story. The original text was -- For the uninitiated, the first thought when the drum-roll-like sound pierced the air was -- "Is that what I think it is?" Followed a split second later by, "Holy shit! That's machine gun fire!"

He adds that the experience was enough to rattle anyone's nerves.

Interestingly enough, Express-News public editor Bob Richter quoted Mariano just last Sunday about the dangers facing reporters in Mexico. In addition, there was a conference in Nuevo Laredo the week before about the perils of reporting on the drug war.