More Killings in Acapulco; Three on the Costera

(Acapulco, ElSur 29 August) Yesterday’s violence in Acapulco resulted in seven more deaths, mostly of young men involved with organized criminal gangs. The first incident was the theft of an SUV in the Caleta area of the Traditional Zone around 9:00 p.m. The vehicle, with plates from the Distrito Federal, was carjacked from a tourist family by two young men. They threatened to shoot the owners’ young children with their .45 caliber pistols if they did not surrender the car. A police chase ensued down the Costera, where the incident came to an end in front of the Soriana at Hornos. Tourist police made a blockade of the Costera with their patrol car, and the two in the stolen SUV rammed into the police vehicle, killing one officer and injuring the other. The SUV rolled several times. Both men inside were killed in the head-on collision. One was 19 years old; the other was 24.

Part of the chase was covered by civilians, broadcasting events via Twitter. Several reported hearing gunfire, from the Zócalo to the end of the chase.

Later last night, more murders were reported in the Vicente Guerrero neighborhood, in the outlying area near the toll road to Mexico City. Around 4 a.m. police found two men, one 25 and the other 18, both executed gangland style. An hour later, at the area where Avenida Cuauhtémoc meets the maxitunnel, police found a decapitated woman in the trunck of a Nissan Sentra. She was approximately 25 years old. Two hours later, in Emiliano Zapata, also outside of Acapulco proper, a 35-year-old victim of organized crime was located in a vacant lot. All the “narco executions” were informed to police by anonymous tips.