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| Latin America |
| Gunmen Kill Mexican Fed Agent, Brother |
| 2003-07-08 |
| BY MIGUEL T. RAMIREZ Laredo Morning Times staff writer NUEVO LAREDO - Armed gunmen shot and killed the local commander of the Federal Investigation Agency (AFI) Monday afternoon. Commander Adolfo Ruiz Ibarra and his brother were killed, and a woman was wounded, just five blocks from the federal attorney's office and eight blocks south of the Lincoln Juarez Bridge when gunmen opened fire on the vehicle they were riding in. The woman was in critical condition Monday night at an unnamed hospital. The commander and brother were unarmed, and all returning from a shopping trip in Laredo, Texas at the time of the incident, according to investigator Sergio Octavio Garcia Garza. "Our preliminary investigation showed they were ambushed at 3:15 p.m. at the intersection of Canales and Leandro Valle, eight blocks south of the Lincoln Juarez bridge," Garcia Garza said. "Commander Ruiz Ibarra was driving a blue Suburban with Sinaloa (state) license plates." Witnesses told a Laredo Morning Times reporter they heard a number of gunshots in the space of just a few seconds. "I don't know how long it took, but I think the shooting lasted for about one-half minute," a woman who saw the incident said. "Gunmen got out of the car, and I heard three shots. I was afraid. "After they (gunmen) left, I went to the (Suburban) and looked inside. The men had been shot in the head," she said. Other witnesses reported a white van was involved in the shooting. Witnesses reported the van and another vehicle stopped in front of and behind the commander's vehicle before the shooting took place. "The gunmen had their heads covered. There where three or four men," another witness said. "They fired at the (Suburban) then fled. I heard gunfire from several weapons." Another women said the three men she saw were "very precise" in how they fired their weapons. Nearby residents called paramedics, who treated the woman passenger at the scene before rushing her to an unnamed hospital. Investigating the shooting, besides Garcia Garza, were other federal investigators and state police. One investigator said the gunmen used assault weapons - AK-47s and .38 caliber supers. Ruiz Ibarra had been in Nuevo Laredo about one month, and with 150 agents began an aggressive campaign against organized crime groups. AFI agents had arrested a number of suspects during the past month, sending them to maximum security prisons elsewhere in the country. Onlookers to the investigation told a Times reporter that federal agents and local police were involved in several confrontations, some of which involved pointing weapons at each other. "The federal agents were insulting the policemen. They (police) were told to leave the area," one witness said. Translated by Mark Webber of the Times staff. (Times Staff Writer Miguel Timoshenkov Ramirez can be reached at 728-2583, or by e-mail at timo1@lmtonline.com) Mexican federal agent killed fighting drug terrorism. Not regularly covered, but the last few months have shown a higher incidence of drug and corruption related assasinations of Mexican federal agents. They must be hitting a nerve. (Http link won't work tomorrow as articles are not uniquely identified.) |
| Posted by:austin - first time poster - be easy on me |