KRGV.com

BROWNSVILLE - Yesterday in El Paso a stray bullet hit a woman while she was shopping. Authorities say it came from across the border. This isn't the first time bullets crossed into El Paso.

The border city is not the only town in the line of fire. Brownsville and El Paso are on opposite ends of the Texas-Mexico border, yet they share similar challenges.

Feet, not miles, separate cities like Brownsville and El Paso from the violence across our border.

"We know that it is a boiling point in Mexico, and it's so close to us that we sense it," said Brownsville Police Chief Orlando Rodriguez.

The woman in El Paso didn't sense the violence. She felt it. A stray bullet struck her in the leg Tuesday night. Police suspect it came from a gunfight in Ciudad Juarez.

Border Patrol agents and fences stop illegals and drugs; however, bullets get through.

"The possibility of stray bullet coming across is an everyday realization," said Rodriguez.

Stray bullets from a gun fight in Matamoros crossed into Brownsville in 2009. Students evacuated the UTB campus after one bullet hit the school's Rec Center.

"A stray bullet is a stray bullet for a reason. You don't know what's going to happen. You don't know where it's going to land," the police chief said.

The chief told us Brownsville is safe, but he can't control what happens across the bridge.

"Just over our shoulder, literally, is a really volatile situation," he said.

The chief says places like Brownsville and El Paso are so close to the river his officers can just yell across the river to Mexican military on the other side.

"We can communicate face to face practically," said the chief.

He says they need that kind of close contact. They're hearing of more shootouts in Matamoros. He knows there's only so much he can do.