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MEXICO-US/TOURIST
U.S. tourist accidentally shot, wounded by Mexican police
Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Jul 31 (EFE).- A U.S. tourist was accidentally shot and seriously wounded by Mexican police in a border town in the state of Chihuahua, officials said.

Maria Guerrero, a 26-year-old U.S. citizen, was shot in the back of the head by a Chihuahua state police intelligence unit officer armed with an AR-15 assault rifle.

Chihuahua Public Safety Secretary Raul Grajeda Dominguez told reporters that the shooting occurred early Saturday in the town of Rodrigo M. Quevedo, previously known as Puerto Palomas, across the border from Columbus, New Mexico, and some 100 kilometers (about 62 miles) west of Ciudad Juarez.

The suspect in the shooting, officer Jose Luis Guzman Verdeja, is under arrest and has given a statement to investigators.

Grajeda said an incident report stated that Guzman Verdeja's rifle accidentally went off as a car carrying the victim and two other people backed up toward the officer.

The officer apparently lost his balance on uneven ground and let loose a round, according to Grajeda.

"There was no intent to injure ... it was involuntary," Grajeda said.
The state official, however, did not explain why the officer who fired the weapon and two of his fellow officers, as well as municipal police present in the area, left the shooting scene without assisting the victim.

Grajeda said Chihuahua Gov. Jose Reyes Baeza and Attorney General Patricia Gonzalez were informed of the incident.

The shooting victim was taken to Columbus and from there by air ambulance to a hospital in El Paso, Texas. EFE bv/hv