Relatives of man who dies after shootout reportedly threaten doctor

By Angelica Martinez
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

5:24 p.m. May 21, 2008

TIJUANA – Relatives of a man wounded in a fierce April shootout threatened a doctor Wednesday after they learned the man had died in a hospital, officials said.
Luis Humberto Moreno Rodriguez died at 10:40 p.m. Tuesday when several of his organs stopped functioning because of an infection, a spokesman for Tijuana's General Hospital said.

Later Wednesday, doctors and others gathered at a busy traffic circle in the city to call attention to the threats.
Moreno was among nine injured April 26 in a gunbattle between rival criminal gangs that left 13 people dead.

The early morning shooting started along a major thoroughfare and continued near a private clinic where police exchanged gunfire with suspects.

The shootout was part of a spike in violence along Mexico's northern border as drug gangs battle one another and face off against law enforcement agencies that have stepped up efforts to control them. The rise in violence has prompted protests among the city's doctors who say they too have been victims of extortion and kidnappings.

Hospital officials said Moreno's relatives, unhappy about his death, went to the hospital Wednesday morning and threatened his doctor verbally. They attempted to assault him but a hospital guard intervened, the spokesman said. The doctor has filed a complaint with the city's police.

News of the threats prompted hundreds to protest at one of the city's well-known traffic circles, or glorietas.

Throughout the day, 300 to 400 people, including doctors, engineers, lawyers and other professionals, gathered in the glorieta where the statue of Cuauhtemoc stands, said Dr. Eric Rosenberg, an internist at a public hospital and head of Tijuana's Colegio Medico, the city's largest medical group with 800 members.

“This situation continues,â€