A police officer and a suspected drug trafficker died and two others officers were wounded in a gunfight between law enforcement and criminals Saturday morning in one of the city's busiest intersections.The state Attorney General's Office announced that a municipal police officer, identified as José Luis Torrijos, 40, died in a hospital from wounds sustained in the gunfight.
Torrijos became the 29th municipal officer killed this year by gunmen believed to be working for drug traffickers.
The firefight erupted on the Lázaro Cárdenas bridge, known popularly as the “Five and Ten,” in the La Mesa district, around 11:20 a.m. The body of one of the gunmen was found at the site, the Attorney General's office said. The man, believed to be between 18 and 23 years old, was not identified.
Authorities also found three vehicles nearby believed to have been used in the incident. One of them was a van, in which were found four AK-47 rifles, an R-15 rifle, a .45-caliber pistol, hoods and jackets with the “SIEDO” logo. The logo is used by the Mexican federal unit that fights organized crime.
In another incident, around 11:10 a.m., the Attorney General's office received word that a body had been found at Rodriguez dam.
Investigators found a the torso and legs of a woman, but no head nor hands.
Before dawn Saturday, a mutilated body was found hung from a bridge in the east side, the second such incident in a week, authorities said.
The unidentified man, who appeared to be in his fifties, was discovered around 1 a.m. hanging from the Técnologico bridge, said a statement from the state Attorney General's Office. The bridge connects Boulevard 2000 to the toll road to Tecate.
The body was nude and draped with severed body parts cut from it.
The state office linked the killing to organized crime but provided no other details.
On Oct. 9, authorities found the mutilated body of a government official hanging from Morelos bridge, on the south side of the city. He also was nude and had been castrated.
Authorities identified him as Rogelio Sánchez, 44, an official in the state department that issues driver licenses, who had been kidnapped two days earlier.
The state Attorney General's office has logged 444 homicides from Jan. 1 to Saturday. Most of them are related to the ongoing war between among drug trafficking cells fighting for control of the lucrative border region and the Mexican government's campaign to confront them.
