A Mexican police officer who was involved with the operation that resulted in the temporary arrest of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s son was shot in killed in a brutal assassination during which his killers fired more than 150 bullets at him in his vehicle at close range, according to Fox News.
The officer was 30-year-old Eduardo N. (full name has not been released), and he was killed in broad daylight shortly after parking his vehicle at a shopping center in Culiacan, Sinaloa, in Mexico on Wednesday.
The killing was captured on CCTV footage obtained and published by the Mexican news organization Excelsior. After Eduardo parks his vehicle, a red car pulls up beside him, two men jump out and open fire on Eduardo before fleeing the scene. The whole incident occurs in about 30 seconds.
De al menos 100 balazos fue asesinado un policía estatal preventivo adscrito al grupo élite, dentro del estacionamiento de una plaza comercial, en Culiacán, Sinaloa.
El participó en el operativo de la captura de Ovidio, hijo de Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, el pasado 17 de octubre. pic.twitter.com/hrdLi8O1QO— En Tres Palabras (@PocasPalabrasDk) November 7, 2019
El Chapo’s son, Ovidio Guzman Lopez, was arrested on Oct. 17 for alleged drug trafficking. The police convoy that was transporting Lopez was ambushed by cartel gunmen, who also burned road barricades. Eight people died and 20 more were injured in the fighting.
Mexican authorities ended up releasing Lopez.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has defended the officers’ retreat and release of Lopez, saying the goal was to avoid casualties.
“The bad cannot be confronted with the bad,” he said. “The bad needs to be confronted doing the good. We believe the most important thing is life, protecting the lives of everyone, the lives of the military, the lives of the presumed delinquents, and the lives of civilians.
Obrador said more than 200 people would have died if authorities had let the situation escalate. Mexico is on pace for 32,000 murders this year, many of them at the hands of drug cartels.
