134 Killed In Tijuana Since Sept 24

Wave of Baja executions continues

By Omar Millan Gonzalez

1:04 p.m. October 19, 2008

TIJUANA – The wave of executions by organized crime members continued Saturday night and early Sunday morning in the city and in Playas de Rosarito.

Authorities reported at least five men killed, among them four municipal police officers and a district police chief, and the discovery of three metal bins containing human remains and chemical residue.

The latest slayings bring the total to 134 in Tijuana since Sept. 24, a record number of killings for any month in the city's history.

Officials attribute the wave of violent crime to a war between at least two drug cartels fighting for turf in Tijuana, a border city often used to smuggle drugs into the United States. The state attorney general's office reported at 9 p.m. Saturday that three slayings had occurred that morning in the eastern portion of Tijuana, including the execution of municipal police officer Rogelio Gonzalez.

By 9:30 p.m., the municipal police of Playas de Rosarito received a report that agents Salvador Rivera and Froilan Olivares were on routine patrol on Guerrero Boulevard when they were attacked by a commando of armed gunmen.

Two hours later, at 11:30 p.m., the state attorney general's office in Tijuana found the body of a man lying on the toll-free route connecting Tijuana to Tecate. The victim, who had been decapitated, was identified as Lott Mata Muñoz, a municipal police officer in Tijuana.

Minutes later, about midnight, authorities said they received a report of an unidentified man killed and another wounded in a shooting in the eastern portion of the city near the Colonia Lagunitas.

While municipal police investigated that incident, they were informed of three metal bins with human remains found in the neighborhood of El Dorado.

Prisma Perez Chavez, a state attorney general spokeswoman, said another slaying victim was reported Sunday morning about 8 a.m. At the moment, there is no information about the latest victim or where he was found.

Authorities in Rosarito later in the morning reported that a group of armed men stormed the house of the district chief of La Presa, Adan Inda Betancourt, 31, who was killed in front of his family about 9 a.m.

According to preliminary reports, the hitmen forced their way into the home of Celestino Salceda Street in the Colonia Mazatlan when Inda Betancourt was in his living room. He was ordered to the ground and was shot by assault rifles.
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Millan Gonzalez is a contributor to the Union-Tribune's Spanish-language newspaper, Enlace.

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