Police take aim during a gunfight yesterday in Tlajomulco, Jalisco.
Five people were killed on Friday in four coordinated attacks against Jalisco state police in the municipalities of Tlajomulco and Zapopan. Two of the dead were police officers.
The first attack happened at 7:00am, when a civilian with an assault rifle shot at a police commander as she was driving in her pickup truck. The commander was unhurt but her husband, who was in the passenger’s seat, was seriously injured.
Two hours later, detective Jesús Adán Martín del Campo was killed as he left his house in Tlajomulco. His nine-year-old son was wounded with a bullet to the leg.
After the Tlajomulco attack, police began patrolling the area and were hit with grenades and rifle fire from a residence near where Martín was killed. The grenades did not detonate, but 300 police officers and soldiers fought for an hour and a half to take control of the property in the Jardines de Edén residential area.
Six officers were injured and two alleged criminals were killed, and three people inside the house were taken into custody. It is not known whether those arrested were suspects or people being held against their will in the house. Police also secured 20 rifles, 20 handguns and two grenades from the house.
Shortly after the battle, another off-duty officer from a homicide unit was killed in a nearby housing development. His body was found naked, in the street in front of his residence.
“The officer from homicide, when he realized that people were coming into his house, tried to escape,” said Jalisco Attorney General Gerardo Solís Gómez at a press conference. “They probably caught him when he was taking a shower, which explains how they found him.”
Another person, who police say they are fairly certain was involved in the killing of the homicide agent, was found dead nearby, apparently having been hit by a car and killed as he left the scene on a bicycle.
Solís assured reporters that the attacks took place because state authorities “are damaging the interests of organized crime.”
Source: Milenio (sp), El Universal (sp)
