Suspect Arrested in Shooting Death of Baja Officer
A Baja California state judicial police officer was shot and killed in Tijuana on Friday by a suspect in a jewelry store robbery, police said.
Mexican authorities later arrested a suspect, Ramiro Cornejo Barreto, said Sergio Barrios, state police homicide investigator. The suspect is a Mexican citizen who was apparently residing in the United States, police said. He will be charged with murder and robbery, Barrios said.
After the shooting, Mexican police were stationed south of the border in Tijuana, attempting to head off the suspect should he attempt to enter the United States.
The dead officer was identified as Manuel Soto Beltran Ruiz, 35, who had been a state police officer for seven years. Soto previously worked with the Tijuana police.
The officer was shot three times with an automatic weapon about noon when he attempted to question a man sitting behind the wheel of a pickup truck on Tijuana’s Avenida Lazaro Cardenas, Barrios said.
Police said Soto was investigating a robbery that occurred at 10:20 a.m. at the Mex-Suiza jewelry store, in downtown Tijuana.
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