MEXICO CITY — The Mexican Navy said Friday that federal police opened fire on a U.S. Embassy vehicle carrying two U.S. government employees, after the vehicle entered an area where the Mexican officers were conducting anti-crime operations.
The two U.S. Embassy employees were hospitalized, according to a government official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Navy said at least four vehicles opened fire on the Americans’ sport utility vehicle on a road south of Mexico City but did not make clear whether any of the four carried federal police officers.
The shootings appeared to have been the result of a confused running gun battle that broke out on a rural road in a mountainous area that has been used by common criminals, drug gangs and leftist rebels in the past.
The Navy said a carload of gunmen opened fire on the embassy personnel and chased them, along with a Navy officer accompanying them. Federal police officers and Mexican army troops then showed up on the road. The statement does not make clear whose bullets injured the U.S. workers.
