Four killed, including 15-year-old boy, in Rosarito Beach
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20081024-2...
By Sandra Dibble
A day after eight people were shot to death in Rosarito Beach, dozens of municipal police officers Friday demanded better weapons and reinforcements
from other agencies, saying they felt powerless against criminal groups operating in their city of 120,000 residents.
ROSARITO BEACH – In Tijuana, the violence continued as gunmen ambushed a man, woman and child inside a vehicle on a busy highway shortly after 2 p.m.
The man and woman died, and the 18-month-old girl, was severely injured by a bullet fragment, the Baja California Attorney General's Office said. A
20-month-old boy was killed in a traffic accident Wednesday when his panicked father crashed after being caught in a shootout.
In Rosarito Beach, a convoy of Mexican marines and a group of heavily armed federal police could be seen driving through the downtown area Friday
afternoon. Mayor Hugo Torres said he had been promised help from the military and state police to help gain control over crime in the city.
But from police headquarters to local schools, the fear was palpable following Thursday three shooting incidents in less than five hours.
The victims included a 15-year-old student, one of four killed in an 8:40 p.m. attack on a veterinary supply store on Bulevar Benito Juarez, the
city's main avenue. At 4:30 p.m., two municipal police officers were shot to death, bringing to seven the number of officers killed in the past month.
Rumors of further attacks caused some students to stay away from school, with unusually high absentee rates at two dozen of the city's schools, said
Oscar Vega, Baja California's education secretary.
“We're living through a difficult period, as citizens, and we must pay attention,” Vega said. “But we don't have any cause for special concern as far
as the educational system.”
The anxiety also affected workers in the city's transit department, which shares a building with the police department in the northern part of town.
Fearing for his employees' safety, the director decided to move his dozen employees to the main city offices after being alerted to two suspicious
vehicles parked outside.
Friday at City Hall, four dozen police officers confronted Mayor Torres and Capt. Jorge Eduardo Montero, the city's secretary of public safety, saying
they fear for their lives.
A key complaint is that they are required to turn in their weapons, bullet-proof vests and police radios when their shifts are over; several of the
recent police killings occurred after work hours, when the officers had no weapons. Several said they resented the mistrust with which they are
treated by their superiors and some privately called for Montero's resignations.
More than a dozen officers have resigned in recent days, according to the department. One officer, David Rivera, said he came prepared to submit his
resignation Friday, but decided to stay at least through the end of the year.
“We will give our vote of confidence to the president and secretary, but we ask that they give us theirs,” said Rivera, 27, who works in the
department's tourism division.
The Mexican military Friday announced a key detention in Rosarito Beach, a top member of the Arellano Felix cartel, Ricardo Estrada Perez who was
wanted by the U.S. FBI. Estrada, whose nickname is El Pollo, had worked as a police officer in Rosarito Beach and Tijuana, and as an investigator for
the state.
the end is near if mexico cannot crush these pukes. we're praying for her....
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