Tijuana shootout weapons tied to other crimes

Weapons seized after one of the bloodiest gang shootouts in Baja California history have been linked to several high-profile murders and assassination attempts in recent years,  Mexican authorities said Tuesday.

Authorities found 60 weapons in the aftermath of Saturday’s gun battles that left at least 13 gunmen dead in Tijuana. Ballistics tests determined that some had been used in the killings of two immigrant safety officers earlier this year in Tijuana and last year’s assassination attempt on the police chief of Rosarito Beach.

The arms were also linked to a shootout at a Tijuana restaurant that claimed the lives of two agents and two bystanders, and to a bizarre November incident in which gunmen raided the Ensenada morgue to steal the corpse of a suspected cartel leader who died in the Baja 1000 off-road race.

In all, the weapons were linked to at least 9 slayings, officials said.

Authorities still haven’t determined a motive for the weekend attack, though they suspect it stemmed from a dispute between rival cells of the Arellano-Felix drug cartel, which has long controlled drug trafficking in Baja California.

—Richard Marosi in Tijuana

Comments

[87]

The Mexican Mafia in U.S. does not involve women or children. The drug cartels of Mexico will kill anyone.

Mexicans do not have the drug problems we have. There are less addicts there.

Americans are demanding the drugs.

Legalize Marijuana. That's s beginning. These guys will eventually die out just like The Chicago Mob, Gotti, Pablo Escobar and the rest.

[Gernot Trolf]

If the American drug user would stop using drugs we would not have a dilemma like this. The fault is ours not the Mexicans!
No drug addicts, no drug problem, no drug deliveries, no shoot outs by drug gangs. Simple isn't it?

[MLK]

It seems that these stories draw out the racists. Close the border, turn a blind eye towards the central cause.
The truth be told, Tijuana would not be the battleground if not for the consumers with the wallets open waiting for the next shipment of the drugs they want to pass out at their next party. The drugs flow north, the automatic weapons flow south. And for this the media continually points at Mexico as unsafe. For tourists its just as safe as anywhere. for drug dealers and cops its not as Calderon is waging a real battle against the cartels. Costing lives on both sides. Its shameful the way media potrays this. they rarely sight the huge gains the country has made fighting a war the US consumers have dropped in their laps.. Congratulations..

[A Reader]

I tell you, we better close the border with Mexico for good and deport all illegal alien Latino gangsters right away. If they spill this kind of armed violence to the U.S., the days of law abiding citizens' right to keep and bear arms are counted.