[font=Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif]Gunman kill police chief first day on job [/font]
Seven police commanders killed in Nuevo Laredo this year
The Associated Press
Updated: 2:02 a.m. ET June 9, 2005
NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico - Gunmen shot Nuevo Laredo’s new police chief dozens of times and killed him Wednesday, hours after he took the post.
Alejandro Dominguez, a businessman who once worked at the federal Attorney General’s office, was sworn in Wednesday afternoon, saying he wasn’t afraid of anything. Many top police officials here have been ambushed and killed recently in this border city, and President Vicente Fox sent in soldiers to try to keep the peace.
“I don’t owe anybody anything. My duty is to the citizenry,” said Dominguez, nephew of former Attorney General Javier Coello Trejo. “I think those who should be afraid are those who have been compromised.”
After dark, a group of assailants opened fire on Dominguez as he was climbing into his Ford Lobo outside the city’s National Business Chamber, which he leads.
“We’ve recovered 35 to 40 casings from an AR-15 assault rifle,” Vallejo said.
A witness told authorities Dominguez was targeted by a group of men who arrived at the scene of the shooting in three dark-colored Chevy Suburbans.
Seven police commanders killed
Since the beginning of the year, ambush-style shootings have claimed the lives of seven police commanders in Nuevo Laredo, including Dominguez.
The position of police chief stood vacant for weeks after Jose Valdez left to take another municipal position. The city had a hard time finding applicants who weren’t afraid to take the job.
In all, shootings have claimed the lives of 61 people this year in Nuevo Laredo.
The U.S. government has issued a warning to tourists traveling to the border, which has seen a rise in drug violence amid a turf war between the country’s two main drug cartels.
Federal agent slain in hospital
Also on Wednesday, seven gunmen wearing ski masks entered a hospital in a northern Mexican state capital and killed a federal agent who was recovering there from gun shot wounds, investigators said.
The assailants, who also killed two men accompanying the agent, arrived at the Clinica del Centro hospital in Chihuahua City, just after 1 a.m.
After subduing security guards and covering surveillance cameras, the group moved into the room of federal agent Victor Estrada, said Rene Medrano, a spokesman for Chihuahua state attorney general’s office.
A former member of the federal judicial police force, Estrada was an 11-year veteran of the Federal Agency of Investigation who was suspended for vague investigative violations and reinstated in early March at the order of a Chihuahua judge, federal authorities said.
© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8151195/
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