Thread: Mexico shootout kills 15

Massive gunbattles break out in Tijuana; 13 dead, 9 wounded
By ELLIOT SPAGAT, Associated Press Writer
Sun Apr 27, 8:11 AM ET

TIJUANA, Mexico - Massive gunbattles broke out between suspected drug traffickers who fired at each other while speeding down heavily populated streets of this violent border city early Saturday, killing 13 people and wounding nine.

All of the dead were believed to be drug traffickers, possibly rival members of the same cartel who were trying to settle scores, said Rommel Moreno, the attorney general of Baja California state, where Tijuana is located.

"Evidently this is a confrontation between gangs," Moreno told reporters.

Eight suspects and one federal police officer were injured in the pre-dawn shootings, none gravely, said Agustin Perez Aguilar, a spokesman for the state public safety department. The suspects are being held on suspicion of weapons possession among other possible charges.

Police recovered 21 vehicles, many with bullet holes or U.S. license plates; a total of 54 guns; and more than 1,500 spent shell casings at various points in the city where the battles broke out, Perez Aguilar said.

At one point, the alleged traffickers fired at one another as their sport utility vehicles sped down a busy six-lane boulevard lined with restaurants, car repair shops, medical offices and strip malls.

Bullet holes could be seen in the walls of a factory building and on the perimeter wall of a housing complex along the road, but no bystander deaths were reported. It was not clear how long the gunbattles lasted.

A mall security guard who did not want to give his name for fear of reprisals said he heard hundreds of gunshots fired, some of which passed near him.

"I hit the ground," the guard said. When he got up again, he said he saw bullet holes in the wall behind him, a dead man lying in a pool of blood and 11 abandoned, bullet-ridden SUVs on the street.

The first shootout claimed seven victims. Three subsequent gunbattles — one outside a hospital — claimed five more, police said. The body of a man police believe to be the 13th victim turned up at a city hospital.

Tijuana, a sprawling metropolis just across the border from San Diego, California, is pervaded by frequent violence, much of it blamed on drug cartels battling for control of lucrative trafficking routes. The city is home to the Arellano-Felix drug cartel.

In January, eight people died in a gunbattle at a Tijuana safe-house apparently used by drug hit men to hold kidnapped rivals. In that confrontation, hit men holed up inside the house battled police and soldiers with automatic weapons for three hours.

Published Monday | April 28, 2008
Reports: Mexico shootout kills 15
The Associated Press
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1 ... d=10320534

TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) - Mexico's military posted soldiers around a major hospital Monday to guard suspects wounded during weekend gunbattles that raged across Tijuana.

Two more deaths raised the toll to 15 from the pre-dawn Saturday shootouts in the violence-plagued Mexican city across the U.S. border from San Diego, local news media reported.

All of the dead were believed to be drug traffickers, possibly rival members of the same drug cartel, Baja California state Attorney General Rommel Moreno said.

He refused to specify the cartel. The Tijuana-based Arellano Felix gang has been shaken by the arrests or deaths of many of its key leaders.

Police did not identify any of the dead or wounded.

In one of the shootouts, gunmen exchanged fire between sport utility vehicles speeding down a six-lane boulevard in Tijuana.

The first shootout claimed seven victims. Three subsequent gunbattles - one outside a hospital - claimed five more. Police said the body of the 13th victim turned up at a city hospital, and local news media reported the deaths of two others who were hospitalized.

The attorney general's office said eight suspects were being treated at the heavily guarded hospital, and local newspapers said it canceled outpatient services and laboratory work. Hospital officials could not be reached for comment.

In 2007, gunmen opened fire on state police guarding the same hospital, where gang members were being treated for gunshot wounds.

The suspects are being held on suspicion of weapons possession among other possible charges.