Assassins Wound Ex-Officer and Family in Tijuana

A former Mexican state and federal police officer remained in critical but stable condition at the Social Security Hospital here Wednesday after being gunned down by machine gun bullets that also wounded his daughter and two grandchildren.

Gustavo Martinez Herrera was shot in the arm and back Tuesday afternoon as he stepped outside the home of his daughter, Elvira Martinez, whom he was visiting. The fusillade of more than 100 shots also felled his 3-year-old grandson and 2-year-old granddaughter, according to Baja California State Judicial Police.

Police said the grandson, Carlos, was also in critical but stable condition and the daughter and granddaughter were in guarded condition.

Martinez, who survived an assassination attempt last year, is the brother of Mario Martinez Herrera, a Mexican federal police official who will be sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in San Diego on a perjury conviction. Mario Martinez was convicted of lying to the grand jury that is investigating the slaying of Enrique Camarena Salazar, the U.S. drug agent who was tortured and killed in Mexico in February, 1985.

State police in Tijuana said they had no suspects in the assassination attempt on Gustavo Martinez, nor did they speculate on a motive.