A thief who tried to mug patrons at a México state restaurant and killed a diner who fought back became a target himself when bystanders took off after him and attempted a lynching.
Thursday’s incident when the would-be thief entered La Morenita restaurant in Tecámac with a gun and began demanding that customers give him their valuables.
Edgar Marcel, a local administrator with the federal Attorney General’s Office, confronted the thief and attacked him, trying to take away his gun, but the attempt failed and Marcel was shot and killed.
When the thief fled the scene, the restaurant’s 48- and 41-year-old owners began pursuing him through the streets outside. The thief fired more shots at them, causing minor injuries to both men but also attracting the attention of bystanders, who joined the pursuit, caught the suspect and overpowered him.
They beat the man until he fell unconscious and left him on the pavement with his gun placed next to his body.
When police arrived they took the thief, who showed vital signs, as well as the injured restaurant owners to a nearby hospital for treatment.
Two similar incidents have occurred in Tecámac in the past week.
On January 22, passengers on a Servicio Expresso passenger bus traveling on the Mexico-Pachuca highway toward Mexico City attacked a would-be thief who tried to hold up passengers with a gun.
The commuters overpowered the man when he became distracted and then beat him to death while the bus was en route. There were no arrests.
The following day, also in Tecámac, passengers on a bus owned by the Cometa de Oro company fought back against three armed thieves. In the process of demanding the passengers’ belongings, the men opened fire inside the bus, wounding one of the passengers.
When the thieves began to flee, passengers fought back and captured one of the suspects, beating him before police arrived and took him into custody.
For Pemex's refining business, 2020 was not a banner year.
The performance of Mexico’s six state-owned oil refineries was disappointing in 2020: the refining target was not met and gasoline production declined to its lowest level in almost three decades.
The Cadereyta, Minatitlán, Salina Cruz, Tula, Madero and Salamanca refineries processed an average of 591,100 barrels of crude per day last year. The figure represents just 38.3% of capacity, which is 1.54 million barrels per day (bpd), according to the federal Energy Ministry.
When the federal government took office in December 2018, the refineries were operating at 33.1% capacity and Energy Minister Rocío Nahle pledged that they would increase daily processing to 900,000 bpd, or 58% of capacity, by the end of 2019.
But the refineries fell well short of that target and in 2020 failed to meet a new goal of 651,000 bpd pledged by Pemex CEO Octavio Romero.
Erick Sánchez Salas, an energy director at the business intelligence company IHS Markit, said the poor 2020 refining result is not surprising because Pemex has directed resources that are needed to operate, maintain and upgrade the existing refineries to the new Dos Bocas refinery, which is currently being built on the Gulf of Mexico coast in Tabasco.
Figures are in thousands of barrels per day. In brackets are domestic sales. el economista
The newspaper El Universal reported that a significant part of the problem is a lack of crude to process. Many energy sector analysts have been critical of the decision to build the US $8-billion refinery, arguing that it diverts funds from Pemex’s more profitable exploration business.
Gasoline production levels were also disappointing last year. The six refineries produced an average of 185,600 bpd of gasoline, a 9% decline compared to 2019. That daily quantity of gasoline was the lowest average level since 1992 and only met 32.4% of national demand, meaning that Mexico remained heavily dependent on imports.
(Domestic gasoline production as a percentage of demand actually increased 4% in 2020 but that was a by-product of decreased overall demand for fuel due to the coronavirus pandemic. Gasoline sales fell last year to levels not seen since 2002.)
In the 1990s, Mexico was producing enough gasoline to meet more than 80% of national demand but production as a proportion of demand fell to 73% in 2004, 60% in 2009 and 56% in 2013. During the 2012-2018 presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto, gasoline production declined significantly and has not recovered since President López Obrador took office despite his promise to “rescue” the state oil company.
Diesel production at the six refineries also fell last year, declining 13% compared to 2019 levels to an average of 113,600 bpd.
In 2020, budget cuts affected the operation of the refineries, El Universal said. The newspaper also said that Pemex’s Industrial Transformation division used just 47.9% of the 69.5 billion pesos (US $3.4 billion) allocated to it.
President López Obrador last year pledged that Mexico would be self-sufficient in gasoline by 2023 through the rehabilitation of Mexico’s six existing refineries and the construction of the new one on the Tabasco coast. In early 2021, that goal looks extremely ambitious at best.
Chester the Cheetah bids his final adiós to Mexico this week.
The cartoon cheetah that has symbolized the Cheetos snack on its packaging and in TV commercials since the mid-1980s will no longer appear on packaging in Mexico, in compliance with a law passed in 2018 aimed at informing consumers about unhealthy foods and beverages and restricting how such items are marketed toward children.
In October 2018, when the regulations were passed, Katia Yetzani García of the nonprofit El Poder del Consumidor said they were based on the Pan American Health Organization’s statement that such marketing toward children takes advantage of their inexperience with advertising.
The secretary-general of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Angel Gurría, said last year that “the incidence of overweight and obesity among the Mexican population has reached alarming levels,” with about 73% of Mexicans considered overweight. Childhood obesity, he said, has doubled from 7.5% in 1996 to 15% in 2016.
Chester is being replaced on Cheetos packages with a more generic letter “C” that nevertheless incorporates elements of the character that will be reminiscent to those familiar with it.
Cheetos’ new look.
The law banning Chester and other cartoon characters began taking effect last October when the packaging of food and beverage items high in sugar, salt, fats or calories started displaying uniform seals in large, striking black-and-white lettering announcing that they contained excessive levels.
The upcoming ban — on cartoon characters, drawings, and celebrity images on packaging — applies to foods and beverages that qualify for at least one of these government seals. It does not become obligatory for manufacturers until April, when other famous characters like Tony the Tiger — and Mexican packaging cartoon superstars like Rey Carlos V (a candy bar image), Melvin the Elephant (Choco-Krispies), and the gansito (a goose character featured on a popular snack cake packaging) will also disappear from Mexico’s store shelves.
Mexico is not the first country in Latin America to get rid of cartoon mascots on unhealthy foods. Chile passed a similar law in 2015 against the packaging or advertising of foods high in calories, fat, salt, or sugar that uses “hooks” directed at minors under 14. As a result, most cereals and other “junk foods” in the country have packaging free of such imagery.
Chester Cheetah was created for an ad agency in the United States in 1986 by Brad Morgan, whose voice was briefly featured in the original U.S. animated commercials. A Saturday morning cartoon around the character planned by the Fox network in the 1990s, Yo, It’s the Chester Cheetah Show, was scrapped after groups like the Action for Children’s Television raised strong objections to it as an insidious marketing tool directed at children.
Business owners protest red-light restrictions in Nayarit, warning of economic damage.
Mexico now has 14 red light maximum risk states on the coronavirus stoplight map after an additional four states switched this week amid rising case numbers.
Ten states – Mexico City, México state, Guanajuato, Morelos, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Jalisco, Querétaro, Hidalgo and Tlaxcala – were painted red on the stoplight map that was published by the federal Health Ministry on January 15 and took effect January 18.
This week, San Luis Potosí, Guerrero, Puebla and Nayarit all switched to red due to their worsening coronavirus situations.
Mexico hasn’t had so many maximum risk states since August when 16 states were red during the first half of that month. By mid-September there were no red states, a situation that was maintained until late October.
However, the situation began to worsen and 2020 ended with five states including Mexico City at the red light level. That number doubled to 10 two weeks ago as case numbers, hospitalizations and deaths rose in the wake of Christmas-New Year celebrations before increasing to 14 this week.
Coronavirus cases and deaths in Mexico as reported by day. milenio
The Health Ministry is scheduled to publish an updated stoplight map on Friday night, meaning that it is not yet known whether all of the 14 states that are currently red will start next week at the same risk level.
One thing that is clear is that January has already surpassed December as the worst month of the pandemic in terms of both new coronavirus cases and Covid-19 deaths.
The Health Ministry reported 399,425 new cases in the first 28 days of January, an increase of 28% compared to December with numbers for three days of this month still to be reported. Mexico’s accumulated tally rose to 1.82 million on Thursday with 18,670 new cases reported.
The reported Covid-19 death toll in the first 28 days of the month was 29,338, a 48% increase compared to the entire month of December. The single-day death toll has regularly exceeded 1,000 this month, peaking on January 21 at 1,803.
An additional 1,506 deaths were registered Thursday, pushing the official death toll to 155,145. Mexico has now recorded the third highest number of deaths in the world behind the United States and Brazil, having passed India’s total on Thursday.
Nine states have an occupancy rate for general care hospital beds above 70%, according to federal data. They are Mexico City, 88%; México state, 84%, Hidalgo, 82%; Puebla, 81%; Guanajuato, 80%; Nuevo León, 79%; Morelos, 77%; Nayarit, 73%; and Guerrero, 71%.
Only about 40% of such beds and 52% of those with ventilators are occupied in San Luis Potosí but the state government nevertheless decreed a switch to maximum risk red on Monday, citing a recent increase in case numbers, hospitalizations and deaths. Hospitals in San Luis Potosí city have been under severe pressure in recent weeks.
Tighter economic restrictions, including reduced capacity for businesses and shorter operating hours, were implemented as a result of the red light designation. San Luis Potosí has recorded more than 49,000 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic and 3,695 Covid-19 deaths.
Guerrero was the second state to turn red this week, switching to that color on Wednesday. Governor Héctor Astudillo said the southern state, where tighter economic restrictions will remain in place until at least February 14, is facing “the worst moment of the pandemic.”
The governors of Puebla and Nayarit both announced Thursday that they were switching to maximum risk red.
Miguel Barbosa of Puebla said the authorities were most concerned about the coronavirus situation in the state capital and surrounding areas.
“We had a day yesterday [Wednesday] that in terms of Covid was very serious and now … Puebla is red. … The center of infection continues to be the capital of the state, Puebla, and the outlying area,” he said.
In Puebla, the capital and outlying areas are seeing the highest levels of contagion.
More than 1,400 coronavirus patients are currently hospitalized, more than any other time in the pandemic.
The state has recorded more than 60,000 accumulated cases and almost 7,000 deaths. There are currently almost 4,000 active cases in Puebla, according to federal Health Ministry estimates.
Barbosa said that the tighter, red light economic restrictions should begin to yield results in the coming days.
“We’re sure that we’ll soon come out of the red [level],” the governor said before calling on citizens to show “solidarity” and follow the health rules.
Announcing that Nayarit was regressing to red, Governor Antonio Echevarría said the Pacific coast state has recorded about 1,750 new cases in January and more than 200 Covid-19 deaths.
“There are practically no hospital beds now, it’s increasingly difficult to find oxygen for patients and the funeral services can’t keep up with demand,” he said.
“The situation is serious and it could get worse. A lot of us could still die – thousands – if we don’t take … control of the war against the pandemic. … In Nayarit we’re now on the red stoplight, it’s necessary that we voluntarily take shelter again. Lives are at stake – to the extent that is possible, please stay at home.”
The governor said that all nonessential business in the state capital Tepic and in the coastal area of the neighboring municipality San Blas must close between Friday and Sunday and remain shut on weekends until the government says otherwise.
The capacity of public transit services in Nayarit has been cut to 50% and street markets known as tianguis can only operate at the same capacity level.
The governor’s announcement triggered a protest by business owners Thursday in Tepic, who blocked various traffic intersections and warned that the restrictions would spell bankruptcy for many.
Nayarit has recorded almost 10,000 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic and 1,363 Covid-19 deaths. The federal Health Ministry estimates that there are currently 858 active cases in the state.
The president has not been seen since Monday when he was photographed during a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
President López Obrador is well and has only mild symptoms four days after he announced that he tested positive for Covid-19, Interior Minister Olga Sánchez said Thursday.
Speaking at the regular news conference usually presided over by López Obrador, Sánchez said the 67-year-old president continues to carry out his duties as head of the executive branch of government.
The interior minister said that López Obrador, a former smoker with a history of high blood pressure who suffered a heart attack in 2013, will return to his daily pressers as soon as his doctors give him the green light to do so. He is currently in isolation at his home in the National Palace and being monitored by a medical team led by Health Minister Jorge Alcocer.
“I assure you that he is very well, very optimistic as always, in a good mood and very soon we’ll have him with us,” Sánchez said.
Speaking at the Health Ministry’s Wednesday night coronavirus press briefing, Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell said that López Obrador had “minimal symptoms.”
“He’s had a few brief episodes of low-grade fever and practically no other discomfort. When he’s asked repeatedly, he finally gives in and says ‘a little bit of a headache since you’re asking so much,’” he said.
The government hasn’t disclosed whether López Obrador is being treated with any medications.
However, his wife took to Facebook on Thursday to thank those who have wished the president well.
“I’m frequently sent photographs of altars, mantras, prayers, recipes to cure respiratory diseases, diets to strengthen the immune system, breathing advice, ejaculatory prayers, good vibes and cards … from believers of assorted religions, and even atheists and skeptics. [They come] from Mexico and abroad. When one wishes another well, one expresses their good wishes according to their beliefs. We’re talking about humanism,” Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller wrote.
“There are very few who have wished for misfortune for our president. Even for them, we ask for … health, love and mercy from the bottom of our hearts.”
Several high-ranking officials who had contact with López Obrador last week went into isolation but none has announced a positive Covid test. Among those who have said they tested negative are Interior Minister Sánchez, Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard and López-Gatell, the government’s coronavirus point man.
Police in Puebla recovered this truck and its cargo of oxygen after it was stolen.
Criminal gangs and internet fraudsters have diversified into oxygen tanks as demand for the essential gas soars due to the worsening coronavirus crisis.
At least 14 robberies of oxygen tanks have occurred this month, according to federal authorities.
The Security Ministry and the federal consumer protection agency Profeco said in a joint statement that there have been five robberies in México state, three in Mexico City, two in Tlaxcala and one in each of Puebla, Durango, Sonora and Michoacán.
Three men were arrested in Amozoc, Puebla, on Wednesday in connection with the robbery of a truck carrying 89 oxygen tanks while two men were ordered to stand trial after allegedly committing the same crime in Coacalo, México state.
At least three other alleged suspects have been arrested in connection with the theft of tanks, which are currently selling for as much as 30,000 pesos (US $1,485) on the black market. (Tanks of medical oxygen usually cost between 4,000 and 7,000 pesos, or US $200 to $345.)
“We’ve had reports of fake oxygen and black markets [for oxygen] – even [organized] crime is now involved,” Interior Minister Olga Sánchez said Tuesday.
In addition to robberies of trucks, oxygen tank thefts have occurred at hospitals in Tlaxcala, Sonora and México state, the newspaper Reforma reported.
Federal authorities are also going after people seeking to defraud citizens looking to purchase oxygen online for their ill loved ones.
Profeco chief Ricardo Sheffield said Wednesday that hundreds of online oxygen vendors have had their e-commerce pages or social media profiles deleted.
“We’re working hand in hand with cyber police, the National Guard, social media platforms and e-commerce sites. We’ve taken down more than 100 e-commerce pages that were defrauding consumers, speculating and abusing with their prices. [We deleted] 700 Facebook profiles as well and we’re going to take another 1,000 down this week,” he said.
Sheffield called on consumers to ignore ads for oxygen tanks on social media, saying that the tanks are likely stolen and filled with industrial rather than medical oxygen.
“You’ll be throwing your money away, … most probably they won’t deliver anything to you,” he said.
Mexico City police have detected cases in which people paid for oxygen tanks that were offered at low prices online but never received them. Six oxygen supply businesses in Mexico City, México state and Jalisco have been shut down by Profeco for passing off industrial oxygen as medical oxygen, selling half-filled tanks at full tank prices and price-gouging, while another 10 have been sanctioned.
Prices for oxygen have increased due to higher demand, especially in the Mexico City metropolitan area, where the coronavirus situation has continued to deteriorate despite an economic shutdown having been in place for more than a month. Oxygen has been in short supply in recent weeks but the federal government is attempting to remedy the situation.
The Health Ministry has ordered that the production of medical oxygen take precedence over industrial oxygen in order to increase supply, while steps are being taken to import oxygen from the United States for use in the north of Mexico.
The collective was searching an empty lot in the remains of an abandoned hog farm in Culiacán and had just found what they believed to be a gravesite when shots suddenly rang out.
The women were forced to drop their digging tools and run, seeking refuge at a nearby gas station where they called authorities for aid.
When they finally returned later that day, escorted by local, state and federal authorities and representatives from the National Search Commission, they found that their tools had been stolen and were forced to abandon their search temporarily. However, when they returned the following day, they found four graves.
The group continued their search at the site Thursday, believing there could well be more.
The group, which leader María Isabel Cruz Bernal formed three years ago after her municipal police officer son went missing three years ago, is a group of 370 women with missing family members. They say they search for their loved ones because if they don’t, no one else will.
Once a week, even on holidays, the group goes to sites throughout Sinaloa to search for potential gravesites. They maintain a Facebook page where they solicit anonymous information via a telephone tip line.
Sinaloa holds the unenviable top spot for the most clandestine graves discovered in any Mexican state.
During Wednesday's melee, the mayor appears to be removing the noose from his neck.
Residents of a southern sierra Oaxaca municipality, fed up with a mayor they claim is corrupt and does nothing for the community, got as far as putting a rope around his neck and threatened to hang him.
They held the Sola de Vega politician captive for a day under threat of death to demand his resignation after blocking access roads.
Hoping to avoid more violence, state security officials approached the blockade to the municipality in force but maintained their distance while they tried to negotiate with residents.
National Action Party (PAN) Mayor Esaú Núñez was taken captive Wednesday — and at one point threatened with lynching — after he approached the blockades and attempted to enter a dialogue with residents. After residents reacted by taking him captive, beating him, and throwing a noose around his neck, he was rescued by another group of residents but held captive for hours in a building near the municipal palace.
“The government did not put you in power, the people did, and if the people want you out, then let’s go,” one of Nuñez’s constituents can be heard on a video recorded of the mayor’s capture.
In the video, Nuñez can be seen reduced to tears, begging the group not to kill him.
The mayor was freed Thursday morning, but the blockades remained in place.
Nuñez is the root of the problems in Sola de Vega, say the residents. They accuse him of diverting public funds to buy himself a ranch, purebred horses, and several luxury vehicles instead of executing promised public works. They also say he is in cahoots with local criminal gangs.
Matin Mijangos, a representative for the Citizens’ Committee for Sola de Vega, told the newspaper Milenio that Nuñez has forgotten his duties to the municipal government, has prioritized the desires of a powerful family over the town’s needs and has permitted organized crime cells to operate in the community.
In a radio interview, Nuñez disputed the characterization of his administration and said the background to the dispute was political. In the case of at least one public works project residents said he never built, a recycling plant, he claimed that the funds to build it had yet to arrive.
The blockades have been stopping traffic for hours at a time on the Oaxaca city-Puerto Escondido highway since Tuesday. At one point on Wednesday, vehicles waited as long as 12 hours until 1:00 a.m., when local officials managed to negotiate a temporary freeing of the barriers to allow traffic to pass.
The state is likely paying the price for relaxing restrictions during the Christmas-New Year's holiday period.
The government of Guerrero has implemented red light restrictions as the southern state faces what the governor described as “the worst moment of the pandemic.”
Guerrero switched to maximum risk red on the stoplight map on Wednesday and will remain that color until February 14, according to a decree published by Governor Héctor Astudillo.
Maximum capacity levels in businesses including hotels, restaurants, shopping centers and supermarkets have been reduced to 30% as a result of the red light decree. Beaches, public swimming pools, gymnasiums and places of worships are also limited to 30% of normal capacity. Businesses and public places are not permitted to open before 7:00 a.m. and must close by 5:00 p.m.
Cinemas, theaters, museums, bars, nightclubs, party halls and casinos must remain closed while red light restrictions remain in place and large events such as weddings and 15th birthday parties are prohibited.
“We have to suspend all nonessential activities,” Astudillo said in a video message.
“… We’re in the worst moment of the pandemic. We’re going through the worst moment because infections are increasing. This is the point at which we all must be responsible, and the first person you must take care of is yourself. You must also look after your family,” the governor said, noting that virus transmission among families is a risk.
“… We have to prevent death. … Let’s be responsible, let’s stay at home, let’s together reduce Covid-19 infections,” Astudillo said.
Guererro’s death toll passed 3,000 on Wednesday, according to state government data, while the Pacific coast state has recorded just over 30,000 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic.
Cases, deaths and hospital occupancy have all risen this month after hundreds of thousands of tourists, including many from coronavirus hotspot areas such as Mexico City and México state, descended on destinations such as Acapulco and Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa over the Christmas-New Year vacation period.
State Health Minister Carlos de la Peña Pinto said two weeks ago that Guerrero was already “starting to pay the bill for what we lived through during December.”
Hospitals in Taxco and Iguala have filled up with virus patients in recent weeks and case numbers have increased in cities including Acapulco, where the health system is also under severe pressure, and state capital Chilpancingo.
A bar in Acapulco is closed after the government decreed red-light restrictions on Wednesday.
Across the Guerrero health system, 74% of general care beds set aside for coronavirus patients are occupied, according to federal data.
The announcement that red light restrictions were being reimposed triggered concern among business owners and workers, who warned of the economic impact of the tighter rules.
“I was honestly expecting the news – after December it was obvious. But I’m not prepared for this, I’ve been unprepared for Covid for a year, the truth is it’s impossible to prepare for something like this,” Pascual Verdeja, a hotel manager in Acapulco, told the EFE news agency.
A bar manager in the same city said that he and his team of 15 employees will struggle to put food on their tables “because we live day to day.”
In other Covid news:
• Municipal authorities in La Paz, Baja California Sur (BCS), have placed new restrictions on business opening hours due to a recent increase in coronavirus cases. All nonessential businesses, including restaurants, bars and tourism operators, must close by 11:00 p.m. every day of the week. The sale of alcohol is prohibited after 10:00 p.m. in restaurants and 9:00 p.m. in supermarkets and stores. The local government didn’t say how long the restrictions, which took effect Tuesday, would remain in place.
La Paz authorities also said that large social and family gatherings are banned and reminded citizens that the use of face masks is mandatory on public transit.
The state capital currently has more active cases – 817 – than any other municipality in BCS, according to the state government. La Paz also ranks highest among the state’s five municipalities for Covid-19 deaths, with 453 since the start of the pandemic.
BCS, currently high risk orange on the federal government coronavirus stoplight map, has recorded 22,573 cases and 1,006 deaths.
• For a second consecutive day, a new single-day record for Covid-19 deaths was set in Mexico City on Wednesday. The city government reported 464 additional fatalities, a figure 27% higher than the previous record of 365 deaths, which was set Tuesday.
The capital’s Covid-19 death toll is now 27,943, which equates to 18% of Mexico’s overall total of 153,639 fatalities. Mexico City’s accumulated case tally is 462,892, which accounts for just over one-quarter of all cases detected across the country.
The case tally in the capital, which has faced red light restrictions since December 19, is higher than the combined total of the 19 Mexican states with the lowest number of confirmed cases.
México state ranks second for both cases and fatalities, according to federal data, while Guanajuato ranks third for cases and Jalisco has the third highest death toll.
Harvey and Hirschsohn were killed at their vacation home in El Socorrito.
A man has been arrested by authorities in Baja California in the September stabbing deaths of a San Diego-area couple who frequently spent time in Mexico.
Authorities believe that Emmanuel “N” killed retirees Ian Hirschsohn and Kathy Harvey in Hirschsohn’s home in El Socorrito, Ensenada, probably in late August. Police believe the suspect, who his daughter says was known to Hirschsohn, stabbed them in their sleep while burglarizing the home then dumped their bodies in a well a few miles away.
The couple were reported missing on September 2 after they did not show up in San Diego on August 30 as planned. Authorities, who found the bodies on September 5, say they found items at the scene that belonged to the suspect.
Hirschsohn’s daughter Ava Setzer identified the suspect to the San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper as a member of the family that owns the ranch where her father’s home is located. She said her father knew the family well, including the suspect. According to Mexican census information, the tiny town of El Socorrito has a population of about 30.
According to Setzer, authorities believe the suspect stabbed the couple, loaded their bodies into Hirschsohn’s Toyota Land Cruiser and drove to a well “in the middle of nowhere,” where he also dumped bedding from the home.
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The victims enjoyed exploring Baja California. Harvey, a native New Yorker who had lived in the San Diego area for over three decades, had worked as a physical therapist until her retirement in 2014, according to her son Robert Harvey.
“She had a bucket list of places she wanted to travel … and multiple friend groups,” he said.
His mother had been dating Hirschsohn for a least a couple of years, he said. “She was really happy with Ian.”
Hirschsohn, a widower, was “more active than anybody half his age,” said his daughter. “He lived the most full life, probably three times over.”
The news of the arrest came as a relief to the victims’ loved ones.
“The past couple of months, this whole process, I can’t even describe how difficult it’s been,” Setzer said.
Harvey said it was a comfort to know that his mother’s murderer was “going to have to pay for it, that he’s not going to get away with it.”
