http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2009/dec/17/killings-point-surge-drug-war/
The body of an alleged drug dealer is seen covered by a sheet after being shot to death in front of his house in Tijuana, Mexico, in this Sept. 6, 2009 file photo. (AP Photo/Guillermo Arias, File)
24: Murders Tuesday and yesterday
71: Murders in December
603: Murders in 2009, as of yesterday
844: Murders in 2008
TIJUANA — Five victims were shot inside a seafood restaurant, four were decapitated and one was shot and hanged from a bridge. A surge in gangland-style killings in Tijuana is being linked to two rival drug-trafficking groups vying for control of the region.
Since the weekend, the death toll has been mounting rapidly: Of 71 homicides reported so far this month, 24 took place Tuesday and yesterday. Many recent victims were men in their 20s, though the youngest was 14 and the oldest appeared to be close to 60, authorities said.
“We are witnessing a war between drug traffickers,” said Rommel Moreno Manjarrez, Baja California’s attorney general. Many of those who have been killed are low-level operatives in the trafficking organizations, and many have criminal records, he said.
“From every angle, this points to organized crime,” Moreno said.
Some experts say the renewed rise in violence is the result of the end of a fragile truce forged earlier this year between Fernando Sánchez Arellano and Teodoro García Simental, reputed leaders of the two main drug gangs operating in the area, a crucial transit point for the U.S. market.
But others contend that there was never a truce. They say the renewed bloodshed is merely a sign that the warring parties have sufficiently recovered from previous battles to start up again.
“This is the dynamic of the war,” said Víctor Clark, a human-rights activist and longtime observer of trafficking groups. “Violence leaves them depleted, they rearm themselves, and once again charge ahead.”
The rivalries led to a record number of 844 homicides in Tijuana last year, most of them in the final three months. The total so far this year is 603.
Among the most recent victims are five men killed when hooded and heavily armed men sprayed gunfire at Wichos Tacos in the Otay Mesa section of Tijuana about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Samuel García Cervantes, 25; Jorge Alejandro Félix Gutiérrez, 25; Javier García Sevilla, 35; and an unidentified victim died at the restaurant. A fifth victim, Gerardo de Jesús López, 30, was pronounced dead at a hospital.
In several instances, the killers left messages suggesting an act of retaliation against the rival drug group.
Authorities said one was left by the body of the unidentified man between the ages of 40 and 45 found shot in the head and left hanging early Monday from a bridge in the southern district of La Gloria.
But some may have died as bystanders. On Saturday, a 14-year-old was killed in a taxi riddled with gunfire. Police found a 19-year-old man dead inside the vehicle and a 27-year-old man dead on the adjacent sidewalk.
The violence follows a series of recent blows to the drug-trafficking gangs, including the discovery of two incomplete drug-smuggling tunnels in Tijuana and the seizure of large sums of cash in Tijuana and Mexicali.
Moreno, the attorney general, said authorities believe the most recent violence could have been triggered by the seizure of $2.1 million from a Mexicali warehouse by the Mexican military Dec. 9.
As the killings continued yesterday, authorities announced the arrests of seven suspects in two other incidents that they said were related to drug gangs.
Sandra Dibble: (619) 293-1716; sandra.dibble@uniontrib.com
“How many people go out of their way to find an armed, uniformed law enforcement officer to rob?” he asked. “The alibi story that it was an accident, that he only meant to rob a Border Patrol agent, is not logical. With all the people in the U.S. and Mexico that you could rob, you’re not going to go after an armed, uniformed law enforcement officer guaranteed to be in good shape and under 56 years of age.”
Craig, head of the Campo Minutemen, was at his group’s base camp and says he spoke with Rosas 10 to 15 minutes before the murder occurred on July 23. “He was parked near my campsite,” Craig said, adding that Rosas told him he had been tracking four people from west to east who were trying to cross the border.
According to official accounts, Castro-Alvarez and Rosas struggled over the agent’s gun during the robbery and the agent was shot multiple times. At least one other assailant was reportedly involved but has not been charged. An FBI investigation continues. A Mexican national, Castro-Alvarez gave himself up to U.S. authorities in August but the arrest was kept secret as the FBI attempted to close in on accomplices.
Ezekiel E. Cortez, attorney for Castro-Alvarez, told reporters outside the courthouse that his client is deeply remorseful. “At no time did he have any intention to harm anyone, specifically a law enforcement officer.” Castro-Alvarez will face sentencing on Feb. 19 and could face up to a lifetime sentence in prison.
But Craig has another theory. “I believe that the people came across the border with the intention of killing a Border Patrol Agent, not necessarily this particular one,” he said. “It's spooky. They weren't smuggling people. They weren't smuggling drugs. One thing I am sure of from many, many discussions with Border Patrol personnel is that Agent Rosas was shot once in the neck and three times in the head while he was laying on the ground dying…He was executed. I heard the shots. It was four spaced shots, which could mean a struggle, then four fast shots.” He said Border Patrol later confirmed that eight shots were fired. “There was only one gun. They were struggling for his gun,” he added.
Craig suggested that the killing may have been retribution for a recent chase in which suspected smugglers escaped back into Mexico—and meant as a warning to frighten other Border Patrol Agents out of enforcing the laws. “They do the same thing in Mexico,” he noted. “They kill Mexican police and cut off their heads to frighten the police into running away.”
If the killer or killers of Agent Rosas believed that killing a Border Patrol Agent would result in a relaxation of border enforcement, Craig concluded, “ I believe they blundered. Since this happened, they (Border Patrol) have filled up holes in the wall and made it a lot more difficult to come across the border.”
A man accused of bringing illegal immigrants across the border was shot by Border Patrol agents after he attempted to run them over with his Ford F-150 pickup truck, officials said. The man survived the gunshot wound and led Border Patrol agents and police on a foot chase through San Diego before being apprehended.
Investigators said the shooting occured after agents arrested two suspected illegal border crossers in the Tijuana River Valley near Smugglers Gulch and began looking for a suspected coyote in a Ford F-150.
Border Patrol officials said the agents found the truck near the corner of Hollister Street and Monument Road. But when they attempted to approach the vehicle, agents say the driver tried to run them over.
"Agents fearing for their lives had to open fire to try and stop the threat," Border Patrol Supervisor Daryl Reed said.
After the agents fired at the truck, it fled the scene. Agents followed the truck north on Hollister until it turned down Tocayo Avenue and then immediately turned into Gayo Court.
The suspect parked the truck in a driveway and ran off on foot. Agents along with San Diego Police officers began chasing the suspect through backyards, which caught many residents off guard.
"I was with my kids, I just told them to go into their bedrooms, it was kind of intense," resident Danny Ramos said.
Officers and agents caught up with the suspect about a block away, on Leon Avenue. Witnesses said the suspect appeared to collapse.
"It was a matter of seconds he went to the ground and then there was an onslaught of undercover vehicles," witness Clayton Howard said.
San Diego Police Captain Jim Collins said the suspect had a gunshot wound to the stomach and was taken by ambulance to UCSD Medical Center. Collins said it appears he will survive.
Mexican Army units seized 81 packages of marijuana weighing a total of 438 kilos and arrested four men on a ranch near Tecate, Baja California. In addition to the marijuana, troops also found a 9mm pistol and a Nissan vehicle with California license plates.
RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA – About a dozen people met at a Rancho Santa Margarita corner this morning to honor a border patrol agent killed in July and to voice their objections to illegal immigration.
At a vigil at Avenida Empresa and Avenida de Las Banderas, Orange County residents held candles, American flags and signs that said "Stop Illegal Immigration" and "Where's the outrage" with a picture of slain border patrol agent Robert Rosas.
Britt Craig, a 60-year-old Mission Viejo man who said he witnessed the killing of Rosas hosted the vigil. Craig, who has split time between his home and the Campo border as part of the Minuteman Project, is possibly the only civilian to have witnessed Rosas' fatal shooting on July 23.
"I saw him that last day, talked to him," Craig said while holding a sign. "He was a nice guy."
Craig has spent at least 96 hours a week at Campo since 2005, has said he heard gunshots at the night of Rosas' killing but couldn't see anything because of the rolling hills.
"I heard four spaced shots like bang, bang, bang, bang," Craig has said. "Then there was a shooting fairly rapidly ... three or four bangs, just as fast as you could shoot."
Border Patrol agents said they could not confirm Craig's story because the FBI is investigating the fatal shooting. The FBI did not return calls for comment.
Mexican officials told The Associated Press that they have detained five men in connection with the case.
Mexican officials also told the news service that Ernesto Parra Valenzuela, 36, had a 9mm pistol when he was captured walking alone near the scene of the shooting. They told the AP that Parra admitted he was a migrant smuggler when local police found him about five hours after the shooting, but he denied any involvement with Rosas' death.
However, FBI officials who are leading the investigation have not publicly identified any suspects.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection have offered a $250,000 reward in addition to the FBI's $110,000 reward offer.
Anyone with information about the killing can contact the FBI at 858-565-1255. The person providing information may remain anonymous, border officials said.
Check back later for further updates.
Contact the writer: 949-454-7308 or jcrandall@ocregister.com or twitter.com/newsguy777 or facebook.com/newsguy777
TIJUANA: Two brothers whose photos appear on a U.S. Border Patrol poster displayed at the San Ysidro and Tecate ports of entry have been released from prison on the orders of a Mexican federal judge.
José Eugenio Quintero Ruiz, 49, and José Evodio Quintero Ruiz, 43, are among 12 men whose photographs appear on the poster.
Jerry Conlin, spokesman for the San Diego sector of the U.S. Border Patrol, said the 12 may have information related to several investigations. The poster went on display July 28 at the two crossings. No names are included on the poster.
The brothers were presented to reporters in Tijuana on July 25, two days after U.S. Border Patrol Agent Robert Rosas was killed near the border fence in San Diego County.
They were arrested by Mexican Federal Police south of the border in the general area where the shooting occurred. Police said they had four firearms and were among a group of 21 people trying to cross illegally into the United States.
The Federal Attorney General's Office sought to have them tried on smuggling and firearms charges, but the judge ordered that the smuggling charges be dropped because the prosecutors presented insufficient evidence, a court spokeswoman said yesterday.
The two still face less serious firearms charges, the spokeswoman said. They were released after posting $
