( CNN ) -- The director of public security in the border city of Nuevo Laredo , Mexico , was gunned down Wednesday night , officials said , though details of the incident remained scarce . Gen. Manuel Farfan Carreola , who served as police chief , was shot near his office by unknown assailants , said Everardo Sanchez , a spokesman for Mexico 's attorney general 's office . He had been in the position since a new administration assumed city leadership on January 1 . Rumors of how many others were killed along with the police chief swirled in Nuevo Laredo Thursday , but city officials declined to go on the record with details surrounding the incident . The state government , which is leading the investigation , was expected to hold a news conference Thursday evening . `` Obviously , the news about his death is out , but the circumstances have been in the shadows , '' said Joe Baeza , a spokesman for the Laredo , Texas , Police Department . The Laredo Police Department keeps in touch with its cross-border colleagues . The investigation is an ongoing process , Baeza said , though early reports that have reached his department were that five of Farfan 's security team were killed in the shooting . The Laredo Police Department received several reports of sporadic gunfire on the Mexican side of the border , possibly related to the fallout of the killing , Baeza said . `` There 's reported instability on the Mexican side , '' he said . Nuevo Laredo is one of the battlegrounds that is being contested by rival drug cartels . The Gulf cartel and its former enforcers , Los Zetas , have been fighting over the territory and its lucrative smuggling routes . The Sinaloa cartel also has been fighting for years to get a foothold in the area . CNN 's Nick Valencia contributed to this report .
Gen. Manuel Farfan was killed in Nuevo Laredo , Mexico . He had served as Neuvo Laredo 's for a little over one month . Comment: