CARTEL WARS: SHOOTING BRINGS VIOLENCE ACROSS BORDER

Juarez drug-cartel violence has undeniably crossed the border into the
United States. El Paso police said Wednesday that a man killed on the
East Side on May 15 was a midlevel member of the Juarez drug cartel.

He was shot eight times near his home and later died at Thomason
Hospital.

Law-enforcement and government officials have long sought to reassure
El Pasoans by saying they don't expect the Mexican violence to cross
the border into this city.

And it's true that the East Side killing isn't like the worst kind of
violence we've seen in Juarez and elsewhere along the border and even
in the interior of Mexico. It wasn't a shootout in the streets. But it
was, undeniably, violence that crossed the border and that's a reality
that must be confronted.

The dead man, Jose Daniel Gonzalez Galeana, had a house in El Paso. It
makes you wonder how many other cartel figures similarly have houses
in El Paso and frequent El Paso.

Anyone in the drug-cartel infrastructure has to be considered a
potential target. And people who are potential targets pose a danger
to anyone around them. No innocent bystander was hurt this time. That
might not always be the case.

The East Side incident is also troubling because it occurred at the
same time that violence seems to be ramping up once more in Juarez.
There was a welcome lull in violence that accompanied the stationing
of troops and more law-enforcement personnel in Juarez.

But in the past few weeks, drug-related incidents have been increasing
and it appears that whatever hold the military and police had on
violence is slipping. That makes it increasingly important for U.S.
authorities to ensure that the violence doesn't cross the border.

El Paso police Chief Greg Allen said, "From Day 1, I always said if
anything does happen, it will be very target-specific. They will not
be randomly shooting at people."

We hope that's the case.

But there are also worries that innocent bystanders might get caught
in up cartel violence occurring in El Paso.