Thread: WAR IN MEXICO - Weekend violence toll at 17 in TJ

More Tijuana news

Weekend violence toll in Tijuana at 17; 4-year-old among dead

By Omar Millan Gonzalez
FOR THE UNION-TRIBUNE 1:27 p.m. November 30, 2008

TIJUANA – One of the deadliest waves of violence in the city continued Saturday night and Sunday morning as 11 people were killed in several attacks, raising the weekend death toll in Tijuana to 17, authorities reported.

The dead included the nephew of the state's tourism director.

Authorities did however, detain three gunmen who confessed to being part of a cell fighting for control of drug trafficking in the region, said the director of the state police force.

Four people were killed in the deadliest of the attacks Saturday night, which occurred in Tijuana's eastside. Municipal police said gunmen arrived at a grocery store in colonia Lomas de la Presa shortly after 9 p.m. and opened fire inside and outside the store. Two children, ages 4 and 13, were among those killed.

The bloodshed continued at 9:40 p.m. when a man was shot to death inside a station wagon parked on 11th Street in downtown Tijuana, municipal police reported.

At midnight, the bodies of three men who had been shot to death, their hands and feet bound, were found in an alley in colonia Alemann on the city's westside.

At nearly the same time, police found the body of a man wrapped in a blanket and blue adhesive tape in an alley in colonia Libertad, adjacent to the border.

About 3:30 a.m. Sunday, a young man was assassinated on avenida Las Ferias, in the upscale neighborhood of Lomas Hipodromo. The Baja California attorney genera'l office identified the victim as Angel Escobedo, nephew of Oscar Escobedo, head of the state's tourism agency, and Maria Escobedo, president of the chamber of commerce.

Meanwhile, about 5:30 a.m. Sunday in Rosarito Beach, local police reported finding the body of a man inside a 1993 Honda Accord parked in front of a taco shop. He appeared to have been tortured, and a message, believed to be from drug traffickers, was found next to him. Police did not reveal the contents of the message.

Earlier Saturday, gunmen carried out four attacks in Tijuana, killing a total of six people and wounding five others.

Three gunmen who fled after one of the Saturday night attacks in Tijuana were chased and intercepted by authorities, said Juan Guillen, director of the state police force. They had seven rifles, several chargers for AK-47s and R-15 rifles, bulletproof vests, helmets and masks, he said.

He identified the three as Jose Ramon Garcia, 33; Saul Arnoldo Jacobi, 30; and Roberto Castañeda, 42. The latter was a state police investigator, Guillen said.

Guillen said the three gunmen confessed to being part of a cell run by Filiberto Parra Ramos, nicknamed “La Perra,â€

GUATEMALA CITY, 11:45 a.m. Dec. 1
Feud over horse race leads to 17 Guatemala deaths
Mexican and Guatemalan drug traffickers arguing about a horse race in a rural border town began a series of gunbattles in which 17 people died, police said Monday.

If we stay out of the way maybe all of the drug gang members will just kill each other off.

Tijuana police chief fired after weekend violence
© 2008 The Associated Press
Dec. 1, 2008, 8:32PMShare
Print Email Del.icio.usDiggTechnoratiYahoo! BuzzTIJUANA, Mexico — Tijuana's police chief has been fired after a wave of violence that left 37 people dead over three days in the Mexican border city.

A statement from the office of Tijuana Mayor Jorge Ramos says Alberto Capella has been replaced by his second-in-command, army Cmdr. Julian Leyzaola.

No reason was given for Capella's abrupt dismissal.

But the announcement Monday came after a particularly bloody weekend in the city across from San Diego.

Nine men were found decapitated on Sunday, including three police officers whose credentials had been stuffed in their mouths.

Four children caught in shootouts were also among the 37 killed between Saturday and Monday.


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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/ ... 41707.html

Four children caught in shootouts were also among the 37 killed between Saturday and Monday.

Innocent little ones, so sad.