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TUCSON - Federal officials have issued a travel warning for bordering Mexican towns, including Nogales, Sonora and Ciudad Juarez.

This comes after violent killings of a U.S. Consulate employee and two others.

"I think everybody is in danger because it's gotten so chaotic and random," said Jane Gray, a former U.S. Consulate employee.

Gray reopened the Nogales Consulate in 1998 and her last post was in Juarez. Among the recent killings there was a former colleague of Gray.

"I was shocked, and I still am, we all are. I've been on the phone and email with my colleagues who have since gone elsewhere but we were just shocked. I still can't quite believe it," Gray said Monday.

The U.S. State Department has authorized consulate workers to evacuate their families across the border for safety.

Travel into Mexico is on high alert, taking big business during the typically busy spring break week away from the border towns.

"Now they don't come down, they don't shop, they don't cross the line business dies. Dangers are present. People should be mindful of them but to be scared off and not come down and do your normal day to day purchases is ridiculous," said one border business owner.

But Gray said the violence has become unpredictable and unavoidable. Now retired in Tucson, she is still thinking about the people who live and work in a place she calls chaotic and dangerous.

"To the people of Juarez, my heart goes out to them," Gray said.