Deadly Tijuana Shooting

[Brian503a]

http://www.fox6.com

Deadly Tijuana Shooting
Published: 9/21/2006 11:01:26 PM


A deadly day in Tijuana, as the assistant police chief is gunned down early Thursday morning.

Arturo Rivas Vaca was found in his police truck on the road from Tijuana to the beaches, his car riddled with bullet holes. Investigators estimate 160 spent bullet casings covering the streets.

Investigators believe two gun opened fire on the chief’s vehicle with assault style weapons. Vaca was able to return fire with a sidearm. During the cross-fire his assistant was struck and killed. Police say a civilian trapped in the blaze of bullets was also hit.

The Secretary of the Municipal Police, Luis Javier Algorri says “In the last couple months we have see how many police officers from different organization have been killed.” One of the Federal Police Investigator says the killings may be tied to the arrest of Javier Arellano Felix by the U.S. D.E.A and Coast Guard in late August.

[Brian503a]

http://publicbroadcasting.net/kpbs/news ... ectionID=1


TJ officials say killing spree linked to arrest of Arellano-Felix

Amy Isackson


KPBS SAN DIEGO (2006-09-21) Law enforcement officials and crime watchers in Tijuana say the arrest of suspected drug cartel leader Francisco Javier Arellano-Felix has caused an unprecedented spate of violence in Tijuana. KPBS Reporter Amy Isackson has details.

The killing spree has claimed more than 15 lives in Tijuana during the last week. Tuesday, police discovered six bodies dumped around the city. Last week, armed men burst into a busy taco shop and murdered three people, including one police officer and a U.S. citizen.

The brutal incidents have not been officially linked to the arrest of Javier Arellano Felix who's awaiting trial in San Diego.

However, Victor Clark who studies crime in Tijuana attributes the violence to the battle to control drug trafficking in the area.

Clark says the Arellano cartel may be cleaning house - killing off snitches, and settling old scores. And he says they may be fighting off interlopers. Clark says the cartels from outside the area may also be contributing to the bloodshed. Amy Isackson, KPBS News.



http://www.signonsandiego.com

Tijuana officials seek army intervention


Recent killings may be caused by drug cartel
By Anna Cearley
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
September 22, 2006

TIJUANA – A string of killings is plaguing Tijuana a month after U.S. authorities detained suspected drug kingpin Francisco Javier Arellano Félix, and some authorities are taking the violence so seriously that they have called on the Mexican army to help restore order.
The latest victim was a city police assistant chief, Arturo Rivas Vaca, who was in his patrol car when he was gunned down about 8 a.m. yesterday. Jorge Eduardo Ledezma Magallon, a police officer who was Rivas' bodyguard, and Luis Francisco de Santiago Ferrer, a bystander, were injured in the attack, according to Luis Javier Algorri Franco, the city's secretary of public security.

Vaca was the fifth law enforcement official to be killed this month, an unusually high number for such a short time frame. None of the deaths has been officially linked to the Arellano Félix drug cartel.

Meanwhile, homicide teams are investigating a spate of dumped bodies – six on Tuesday alone. Bodies that are left along roadsides and in other places are often victims of drug traffickers.

The developments prompted the state's attorney general to suggest that residents be particularly cautious, and caused Algorri to prod federal and state authorities to bring in the army.

It's unclear what role he expects them to take, whether patrolling the streets or actively investigating cases. The military has been involved in the capture of some top Arellano members in the past, though it's not impervious to corruption.

“The participation of the Mexican army is necessary to help the police agencies,” Algorri said. “We find ourselves in an emergency situation.”

As Arellano Félix remains in custody north of the border, the cartel continues to function. Though other rival groups are believed to be trying to move into the Tijuana area, offering generous cash incentives, observers of drug-trafficking trends say it's more likely the violence is due to the cartel going after rivals and traitors, and cleaning up its own house.

“Normally, when the head of a cartel is detained, these things happen,” said Jorge Chabat, a drug trade expert at the Center for Economic Research and Teaching in Mexico City. “You would have to wait to see if this continues to see if this is a war between cartels.”

Other clues have emerged in recent weeks that some see as indicators of the Arellanos' involvement in the killings. Some of the dumped bodies have been left with unusual messages that suggest the victims were targeted as traitors.

The violence also has involved people with no connection to the drug world. Last week, a waitress and a U.S. citizen died when assailants opened fire on a group of law enforcement officials eating at a restaurant.

Official statistics, however, don't show a dramatic upswing in killings. During the first 20 days of September, 27 homicides have been recorded. Since 2003, the number of killings per month has ranged from 18 to 57, according to statistics from the state attorney general's office. What makes the situation unusual is the kind of violence and who is being targeted.

Top Mexican law enforcement officials in Baja California will speak only in general terms about the killings' possible connection to the detention of Arellano Félix.

“It could be the case ... but it's not something I can confirm,” said the state secretary of public security, Víctor de la Garza Herrada.

Algorri, with the city of Tijuana, noted during a Mexican radio program last weekend that more mercenary groups were operating in the area.

“We have information that armed groups have come here from the interior of the country to Tijuana,” he said.

He named specifically the Zetas, a shadowy group of elite ex-military officers who have become enforcers for drug gangs.

Experts in drug-trafficking trends said it appeared the Arellanos were contracting with the Zetas and other mercenaries to target snitches and enemies.

The Zetas are suspected of being recruited originally by drug trafficker Osiel Cárdenas, who is in a Mexican prison.

Cárdenas' gang, known as the Gulf Cartel, is battling with rivals over the control of drug routes in the eastern portion of the U.S.-Mexico border, south of Texas.

The Arellanos and the Gulf Cartel have the same enemies, and there have been suspicions in the past that they were sharing resources, such as the Zetas.

Police are targeted because drug traffickers require their cooperation to ensure that drug loads get through with minimal interference. Sometimes officers are killed because they stand up to traffickers, but often the reasons are more complex. Officers who receive money from the Arellanos are expected to fulfill certain obligations, and to not take money from other drug groups.

Yesterday, during a news conference to confirm the death of Rivas, who was one of two assistant directors under the police chief, Algorri refused to take questions from reporters. With a grim face, he said Rivas had worked 20 years for the Tijuana police department, and that two of his children were also police officers with the agency.

He called the recent killings “unusual and condemnable acts of organized crime.”

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Anna Cearley: (619) 542-4595; anna.cearley@uniontrib.com