Seven people were injured when shots were fired and punches thrown in a confrontation between the state Attorney General’s Office and municipal police in Tlalnepantla, state of México, as four suspects were being transported to a justice center.
Five municipal police officers were wounded, three by gunshots and two by punches and two investigators from the state Attorney General’s Office were injured by blows.
The security agencies have offered conflicting accounts.
The Attorney General’s Office said investigators arrested two men and two women who are suspected of kidnapping of a 73-year-old woman who had been rescued two days earlier. It stated that the investigators were attacked by municipal police.
“When the personnel of the office of the Attorney General advanced toward the facilities of the Center of Justice, they were intercepted by the municipal officers, who fired at the personnel. That happened despite the fact that the investigators identified themselves, and therefore had to repel the attack,” the office stated.
However, municipal authorities said that residents called the police when they saw an armed convoy in the area. “The hooded men with heavy weapons claimed to be ministerial police officers, but they never identified themselves or showed any document such as a warrant to justify their presence,” they said.
Both the Attorney General’s Office and municipal authorities have said that they are conducting investigations into the actions of their officers.
The 73-year-old woman had been kidnapped in Tlalnepantla on June 6 and her family had received phone calls demanding a high ransom for her release.
She was freed in nearby Tultitlán by agents from the state Attorney General’s Office specialized in kidnappings, and five people were arrested.
