Authorities in Guanajuato have arrested a man in connection with a mass murder in Celaya earlier this month.
The Guanajuato Attorney General’s Office (FGE) said in a statement on Thursday that it had located and detained the “alleged perpetrator” of the murders of six young men on Dec. 3.
The FGE identified him as Francisco Omar “N,” alias “Verdus.”
It was initially reported that five men, all medical students, had been found in a car in the neighborhood of Crespo on Dec. 3, but authorities subsequently said there was a sixth victim – an 18-year-old man who, unlike the others, was not a student.
The victims reportedly had gunshot wounds to their heads and other signs of violence on their bodies.
The FGE said it has evidence that proves the suspect’s “participation in several criminal acts,” including the recent murders. The Attorney General’s Office posted a video to the X social media platform showing police taking the alleged murderer into custody.
#AlMomento#InformaciónRelevante
LA #FISCALÍAGUANAJUATO IDENTIFICÓ Y CAPTURÓ A UNO DE LOS AUTORES MATERIALES DEL MULTIHOMICIDIO DE LOS CINCO ESTUDIANTES DE MEDICINA EN CELAYA.
La #FiscalíaGuanajuato logró detener con orden de aprehensión al presunto autor material de los… pic.twitter.com/LLq9z98fAC
— Fiscalía General del Estado de Guanajuato (@FGEGUANAJUATO) December 21, 2023
The FGE said that a “special cell” of its homicide unit began an investigation into the murders the same day that they occurred, and gathered information that allowed it to identify the alleged perpetrator of “this terrible multiple homicide.”
It said that police followed followed Francisco Omar’s movements prior to making the arrest. The accused will face an initial court hearing “in the coming hours,” the FGE said.
President López Obrador said earlier this month that there was a hypothesis that the young men who were murdered were buying drugs in Celaya when they were attacked.
“It had to do with the use of drugs. These young men … went to make a purchase from someone who was selling drugs in an area that belonged to another [criminal] group,” he said Dec. 6.
“… This is still hypothetical, but they supposedly went to a place to buy drugs and they were murdered there,” López Obrador said.
However, as The New York Times reported on Wednesday, “local officials later said the investigation showed the crime had nothing to do with a drug sale, and Fabiola Mateos Chavolla, the mother of two of the victims, lashed out at the president for his ‘cruel and irresponsible comments’ about her sons, saying Mr. López Obrador had ‘blamed them for their death.'”
State Attorney General Carlos Zamarripa said that the young men were abducted from a water park in Celaya and taken to the location where they were later found dead.
“The young men were in a recreation area and of course there was no reason to take their lives,” he said. “The five students were good people and were having fun at a water park.”
With reports from El Financiero, El País and El Universal
