Eight Dead in Northern Mexico
| History question: how does this ongoing pattern compare to other gangland wars in Mexico and elsewhere? |
Eight people died in drug and gang related violence, including a Juarez police officer who died in the line of duty, and a raid by armed suspects in western Chihuahua.
- Two young men were found executed on the Pan-American highway south of Juarez, according to Mexican news reports. Jorge Pedro Gonzälez Quintero, 21, and Alejandro Ruiz Salazar, 19, were found with wounds from AK-47 shots. They were found beside a Jeep Cherokee they presumably drove.
- Ttwo unidentified people were murdered and several homes were destroyed by fire in a daylight assault Sunday by a gang of armed men in Madera, Chihuahua, according to Mexican news reports. The assault took place around 1753 hrs when a convoy with at least 15 light trucks carrying 60 armed men entered the tiny western Chihuahua community.
Apparently the gang found its victims and executed them. An armed contingent of four Chihuahua CIPOL agents and five local police officers retreated from the area after facing off the gang. An unknown number of structures were destroyed by fire including a structure used by the CIPOL agents.
Reports say weapons used in the assault include .50 caliber Barret rifles and fragmentary hand grenades, as well as other heavy armaments.
- An unidentified man was found beaten to death on a street in Chihuahua, Chihuahua. The corpse was found Monday morning with evidence of a severe beating at La Cantera Avenue.
- A Juarez municipal police officer was killed Monday afternoon attempting to prevent an armed robbery at a local bank, according to Mexican news reports. Pedro Peña Mena, 32, died at the scene.
Three armed suspects entered the Banco Santander bank at Plaza las Torres near Avenida de las Torres and Mitla at about 1500 hrs demanding cash from open cash drawers. The police officer was killed by the suspects as they left when he identified himself.
- One armed robbery suspect was wounded in a botched armed auto robbery attempt involving intervening Mexican federal agents Monday afternoon, according to Mexican news sources.
The three unidentified suspects attempted to rob a car near the intersection of Hermanos Escobar and De las Américas streets in Juarez at about 1500 hrs, when federal agents intervened. The Mexican federal agents shot one suspect, and arrested the second. A second vehicle carrying a mother and her child was damaged in the exchange of fire but no one was injured.
- Three unidentified men were shot to death and two were wounded in at attack at a halfway house in Juarez Monday afternoon, according to Mexican news reports.
Reports say the victims were brought out in an ambush by a request for donations from the victims near the intersection of Yepomera and Zaguän streets, in the Hacienda Las Torres district. One victim was murdered in the residence patio while the other two were killed in the street. Reports say they were shot with a high powered rifle.
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