Juárez officer gunned down: Assisting officer, civilian are wounded
Border security concerns arose again Thursday morning when a Juárez traffic officer was ambushed by a group of armed men near the U.S. border.
Roxana Rodríguez Monroy, 33, was shot and killed about 10:30 a.m. while she was escorting a vehicle to a lot where vehicles involved in traffic violations are kept, said Juárez city spokesman Jaime Torres.
She was riding a motorcycle near the intersection of Norzagaray Boulevard and Plomo Street at the time, according to Chihuahua state news release. That intersection is directly across from the El Paso Downtown neighborhood of Chihuahuita.
After Monroy was shot, she called for help. Another traffic officer, Jose Natividad Valdez, came to her aid but he, too, was shot, along with a civilian, Torres said.
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Thirty-three transit and city police officers have been killed in Juárez this year, Torres said.
More than 2,300 people have been slain in Juárez this year, according to an El Paso Times tally.
By Thursday evening, at least six more people were killed in the city, including two unidentified men found tied up and shot to death.
The men’s heads had been covered with plastic bags wrapped with tape, Chihuahua state police said. One man wore only boxer shorts while the other wore a green jersey, possibly of the Mexican national soccer team, and a pink mini-skirt.
In some drug-related murders, victims have been dressed in women’s clothing after death as a form of humiliation.
Mexican federal police look on as an SUV is driven back from the Rio Grande onto the road after a Juarez traffic officer was ambushed and killed by a group of gunmen near the U.S. border. Another traffic officer, who arrived at the scene to assist her, was also shot. Authorities said the gunmen fled in the SUV, which was covered with bullet holes.
(Ruben R. Ramirez / El Paso Times)