The discovery of six burned bodies yesterday morning in Tijuana and of two other homicide victims found elsewhere in the city has shattered weeks of relative calm.
The killings raised the number of homicides reported since early Sunday to 15, and authorities said some of the deaths could be linked to organized crime. They announced the arrest of a municipal police officer suspected of killing a man early Sunday in the city's Rio Zone.
Violence has increased this year in Baja California as President Felipe Calderón's administration has led a major push against organized crime. Federal, state and municipal police have made numerous arrests and seizures, but the death toll has been mounting, often attributed to power struggles among various criminal groups in the region.
The most recent killings bring the number of homicides in Tijuana this year to 273, according to the Baja California Attorney General's Office. Last year's reported total was 337.
The renewed violence comes 10 weeks after a shootout between rival gangs in eastern Tijuana left 13 dead. The confrontation involved rival factions of the Arellano Felix cartel, law enforcement sources said, and resulted from the cartel hierarchy trying to control an increasingly powerful crew leader, Teodoro “El Teo” Garcia Simental.
The Baja California Attorney General's Office released little information about the killings that have occurred since Sunday.
The six burned victims discovered yesterday were all men. Municipal officers found their bodies face down in an empty lot near a public hospital about 5:40 a.m. One body was still burning, according to the municipal police report. Several had plastic bags over their heads, one was handcuffed and others had their hands bound, the report said.
A news release from the Baja California Attorney General's Office yesterday said the victims showed signs of beating and at least two had been shot. The causes of death were still being determined.
According to the statement, two of the victims appeared to be between the ages of 40 and 45; two others between 35 and 40; and one between 25 and 30. The sixth body was burned beyond recognition.
Various spent shell casings were found at the scene, possibly from a 9 mm handgun, said Salvador Juan Ortiz Morales, the head of the Attorney General's Office in Tijuana. Several of the bodies had tattoos, he said.
A seventh body was found about 7:15 a.m, partially covered by a blue bedspread along the Via Rapida Oriente, a busy thoroughfare that crosses the city. Later in the day, a woman was shot to death inside her home in eastern Tijuana in an apparent domestic dispute.
Yesterday's discoveries follow those of seven bodies Sunday in five separate incidents. One of those victims was identified: Omar Javier Mafut Espinoza, 31. A municipal police officer identified as Gerardo Hernandez Chagoya was in custody yesterday in connection with the killing, which took place in the Plaza del Zapato in the city's Rio Zone.
Sandra Dibble: (619) 293-1716; sandra.dibble@uniontrib.com
