Video footage showing an ambush of police in México state that left four officers dead has surfaced on social media.
Suspected gangsters who perpetrated the attack also appear in the footage, which was presumably filmed by one of the assailants.
The ambush took place on October 28 in Almoloya de Alquisiras, a municipality about 75 kilometers southwest of the state capital, Toluca.
In the first of two short videos, armed men are seen waiting in a forest above a dirt road between the communities of Los Pinos and Las Vigas.
“State [police] commander, we’re coming for you now,” the man filming says.
Focusing on a man looking at a cell phone, the video’s narrator says: “Here’s ‘El Grillo’ [The Cricket], who killed the ex-community officers, who also killed the commander of the No. 1 [unit] and the municipal commander.”
Several other men appear in the video before the man filming declares: “We’re going to kill the state police here because they’re sticking their noses into our business.”
Switching the camera’s gaze to the road, he adds: “This is where it’s going to happen.”
In a second video, a volley of gunfire is heard as a state police vehicle comes into view.
The vehicle quickly overturns although not before one officer falls or jumps from its rear onto the dirt road. He is then seen running off the road to take shelter before disappearing from view.
Heavy gunfire continues for the next 55 seconds. Four police died at the scene of the ambush while a fifth officer survived.
The México state Secretariat of Security and Attorney General’s office said they are investigating the leaking of the videos, which they obtained during their probe into the October 28 crime.
The authorities said the footage forms part of the evidence against the alleged perpetrators, one of whom has already been arrested and is in custody. Some media outlets have reported that the men belong to the Familia Michoacana cartel.
Almoloya de Alquisiras is part of the notoriously dangerous Tierra Caliente region, which takes in parts of México state, Guerrero and Michoacán.
Source: El Universal (sp)
