door of the agents’ car open and shot point blank at them. When Zapata shifted the vehicle into park, its doors automatically unlocked. The Zeta gunmen pulled open the driver's side door and tried to drag Zapata out, but he fought them off, managing to re-lock the doors. The agents, however, managed to crack the windows to talk with the assailants and identify themselves. The agents hoped to reason with the gunmen—as many as 15 of them—who surrounded the vehicle. According to congressman McCaul, the agents said "We're Americans, we're diplomats", and the response from the drug cartels was bullets. The gunmen then fled, and Ávila was able to use his cellphone to call for help. Dying, Zapata managed to put the car in gear and drive away before collapsing at the wheel. Soon afterwards, a Mexican federal police helicopter arrived where the two agents were. Ávila was shot twice in the leg, and was later sent to a hospital in Houston, Texas. Jaime Zapata, however, gravely injured from three bullet wounds, died before the authorities could aid him with medical treatment. According to federal sources, the ambush took place at a fake military checkpoint established by the gunmen, who were dressed in camouflage uniforms and armed with machine guns. Controversy There has been controversy of whether this attack was from a group of Los Zetas carrying on their own operation, or whether this incident was a well-planned and intentional ambush attack against the American agents. The captured individuals allegedly involved in the attack revealed through their interviews that they had mistaken the agents for a rival drug cartel. The agent's account, however, mentions that the gunmen apparently knew that they were attacking U.S. law enforcement officers, since after Zapata mentioned that they were American diplomats, the Zetas said "We don't give a [expletive]" and shot both of them. Moreover, the diplomatic plates also indicated U.S. officials were on board. Texas Congressman Michael McCaul mentioned that the gunmen opened fire at the agents after they had identified themselves as U.S. diplomats. Five months after the slaying of Jaime Zapata, a report from the White House noted that Zapata's family demanded to know the source of the weapons used in the attack. The gun that killed Zapata and wounded Víctor Ávila—a semi-automatic WASR-10—was purchased by Otilio Osorio in Dallas, Texas, the serial number obliterated, and smuggled into Mexico along with nine