The Guns of August: Eleven Dead, One Nebraskan, One Apparent Extortionist, TwoTeenagers, One Woman Who's Husband Was Murdered Last Week, And Others

Compiled from stories in Diario, El Mexicano, La Polaka, and El Norte

Yesterday was active. At about 11:20 a.m. the owner of a tire repair shop in Zaragoza and his 17-year old assistant were murdered in the shop. While police were looking at the crime scene they were notified about another double murder in Villas del Sur (see picture) in Lote Bravo. One, Ismael López Sánchez, was 16, a high school student at a private school. The other, Humberto Esteban Chairez Gómez, 20, worked at the Electrolux maquila plant.

Three miles away, at about the same time an American from Nebraska--Roy Labra, 20--driving a sand-colored Chrysler M300 without plates, was chased down and killed by gunmen in two vehicles, a car and a pickup in Col. Paso del Norte. According to one version of events one of the pursuing vehicles rammed the Chrysler onto a sidewalk, but the car ended up in the middle of the street. The man then tried to hide in the back seat, where he was executed. The car had many bullet holes in it and broken windows. Police arriving on the scene could hear the sound of a corrido coming from the radio. One report said there was a gun in the car.

Then at about 5 p.m. the driver of a bus traveling South along the Juárez-Porvenir highway was gunned down along with his money collector. Apparently two vehicles intercepted the bus at No. 9 Riberas del Bravo (km. 19) and shot at the driver, Carlos Vera, 35, who pulled the bus off the road onto an empty lot and stopped, mortally wounded. His body slumped off the driver's seat. A gunman entered the bus and shot and killed the money collector who was trying to escape out the emergency door in the back. Newspapers had conflicting reports as to whether there were passengers on the bus. For one version (El Mexicano) click here. For another version (Diario) click here.

A woman around 30 years old whose husband was killed last Saturday in the Plaza Reloj was gunned down yesterday in front of her house in Col. Juarez Nuevo.

Late yesterday afternoon at Ave. Tecnológico between De la Raza and Simona Barba, a municipal police officer confronted a group of extortionists hitting up the owner for his "quota." The officer, assigned to protect a nearby business noticed a group of armed persons going into a used car lot. Solis Motors. At that moment a unit of the Federal Police was going by and they joined the police officer. The extortionists drew weapons and there was an exchange of gunfire for several minutes, leaving one man dead and another injured while the other members of the gang fled.

Witnesses at the scene indicated that Tuesdays and Thursdays are the days extortionists tend to pick up their weekly "quotas."