Cop Killers Caught?

The spate of police killings in Tijuana may have been quelled with the detention of three suspects by the Mexican army following a shoot-out with municipal police last Saturday.

The individuals, Edgar Sauceda Rodriguez, Francisco Peralta Reyes, and Raul Sauceda Beltran, were turned over to la procuraduría general del estado (state attorney general) for prosecution. According to the attorney general, they are linked to 16 murders, including a copycat bridge hanging of a tortured individual on Saturday, October 17. (On October 9, morning drivers encountered the hanging body of Rogelio Sanchez Jimenez.)

Besides the October 17 hanging, other charges include: a double murder during which one cop was killed in September, a triple murder of police officers in Las Playas de Tijuana in September, a double murder in the heights of Colonia Altiplano in September, a double murder in July, a single murder of a policeman in July, a murder of a still-unidentified man in May in the Parque Industrial Pacifico, and a quadruple murder of police (including a policewoman) outside of an Oxxo store in April.

When captured, the trio was in possession of 5 assault rifles, a .38 caliber pistol, approximately 900 cartridges, 40 ammo clips, 6 armored helmets, and 6 bulletproof vests.

Sources: Frontera, El Sol de Tijuana