Posted on 05/01/2005 6:28:51 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
NUEVO LAREDO A high-ranking city police administrator and a mechanic who had just stopped by to repair the officers vehicle were riddled with bullets on a quiet neighborhood street in broad daylight Saturday afternoon, becoming this citys No. 44 and 45 homicide victims.
José Bernardino de la Cruz, one of seven police supervisors, and mechanic Rubén Tovar Sánchez Limón were outside de la Cruzs home in the Manuel Cavazos Lerma subdivision on the western edge of the city at about 5:50 p.m., according to witnesses.
Elva Marissa Torres de León of the state police department said de la Cruz was just about to unlock his truck so the mechanic could work on it when the attack occurred.
"Its at that point, we think, that the gunman passed by and opened fire," she said. "We are taking statements from several witnesses; that will help determine the direction of the investigation."
The officer was identified by a family member who ran outside after hearing the gun shots, Torres de León said.
De la Cruz died in the street from several shots to the head; the mechanic died while undergoing treatment at a local hospital, officials said.
Among the items recovered at the scene, Torres de Leòn told reporters, were three 9-mm shelling casings.
"They will be analyzed and will undergo ballistics testing," she said.
Officers towed the deceased supervisors truck as well as the mechanics Oldsmobile to state police facilities for further investigation.
Manuel Cavazos Lerma is a relatively new neighborhood with as-yet-unpaved streets, one of several that have sprung up in recent years on the west side of Nuevo Laredo.
Saturdays two homicides bring this years violent death toll in Nuevo Laredo to 45.
Victim No. 41 was a young man who was shot April 25 in the San Rafael subdivision, while No. 42 was a person who died four days after he was shot April 23. The 43rd victim was a man who was thought to have drowned, but the legally required autopsy showed he had suffered severe blows to the head.
Thanks for article, nice to know what is going on along the border.
Ping away!
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