HIDALGO, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Schools in the City of hidalgo were on lockdown today after reports of shots being fired.
Chief Romero Rodriguez said, he heard eight gunshots coming from the south side of the city.
He added, the police department immediately sprung into action and did what they have been training for.
“Anything that happens, we’re ready. We’ll we’ll, we’ll accept the challenge,”Rodriguez said.
Around 10 a.m., Friday, May 26 the Hidalgo City Police Chief was in the back lot of the police station when he heard gunshots coming from the south side of the city.
“We canvass the area, we spoke to neighbors and everybody else and everybody kept pointing that it was further south. So we finally determined that it was on the Mexican side,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez added the Hidalgo School District immediately placed campuses on lockdown. Fortunately, the last day of school was yesterday so there were few students in the schools.
“We activated our troops. We we locked down the schools in the area, we got three schools in the vicinity here” Rodriguez said.
Authorities sprung into action and within 10 minutes had the perimeter secured.
“We will do everything in our power to make the city safe and secure. Students, teachers, everybody, anybody that’s in our city will be safe and secure. And we’ll keep pushing and striving for that.” Rodriguez added.
Sixteen patrol officers, as well as two department surveillance drones secured the perimeter.
Within minutes the chief said the Texas Department of Public Safety had troopers in the area along with the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Department.
Chief Rodriguez said they’ve been preparing for a situation like this, and today the preparation paid off.
“We try to be prepared for anything that may happen. And today we proved that we are, the repsonse time was quick. We secured everything real quick thanks to all their help.” Chief Rodriguez said.
The chief said a report came into the department that the Mexican Military had been in the City of Reynosa and its possible that’s where the gunfire came from.
He said it’s not something he could independently confirmed.
Tomorrow night the district will hold graduation ceremonies.