2 Mexican Officers Among 4 Killed in Tijuana Shootout

Four men--two of them police officers--were killed on a busy downtown street Thursday night during a fierce gun battle that authorities said may have pitted federal and state law enforcement officers against one another.

The bloody incident, which also left three federal police officers hospitalized in serious condition, appears to have been drug-related, Baja California Gov. Ernesto Ruffo Appel said Friday. But Ruffo said it was not clear if the mysterious confrontation was a clash between drug traffickers and police or between rival police officers, some of whom may have been protecting traffickers.

Witnesses said the state and federal officers wielding AK-47 rifles and other heavy weapons appeared to exchange gunfire with one another during the terrifying shootout at a busy intersection of Boulevard Diaz Ordaz that is ringed by shopping centers.

“All we heard were volleys, like machine guns, and it went on and on,” said a merchant who was nearby when the shooting started and identified himself only as Agustin.

The gun battle began about 8:45 p.m. and lasted up to five minutes, leaving surrounding stores and the three Chevrolet Suburbans driven by the officers riddled with dozens of bullet holes.

“We know only the results, that four people are dead,” said Cmdr. Jorge Alvarez Barriere of the Baja State Judicial Police. “The rest is being investigated.”

Alvarez said it is possible that officers fired on one another by mistake. Investigators are trying to determine whether federal and state officers shot at one another, and who fired the fatal shots, authorities said.

It was one of the worst drug-related slayings of police officers in recent memory in Tijuana. The city has experienced periodic spectacular shootouts involving drug cartels vying for the lucrative smuggling turf of the U.S.-Mexico border. There have been cases here and elsewhere in Mexico in which state and federal officers have provided protection for drug traffickers.

The violence had declined during the last year because of an intense manhunt for the fugitive leaders of Tijuana’s Arellano cartel, who are wanted in connection with a Guadalajara shootout last May that left a Roman Catholic cardinal and six other people dead.

The dead in Thursday’s shooting included Cmdr. Alejandro Castaneda Andrade, chief of a Mexico City-based anti-drug unit of the Mexican Federal Judicial Police, and Salvador Miramontes, an investigator for the state judicial police, which investigates felonies. The other two dead men and the three wounded federal police officers were not identified.

Reflecting the gravity of the incident, Mexican federal Atty. Gen. Diego Valades left Mexico City for Tijuana on Friday to lead the investigation of the incident, a federal spokeswoman said.

The federal judicial police have prime responsibility for investigating drug crime in Mexico. Special units from Mexico City--such as the one commanded by Castaneda--have led the hunt for the three Arellano kingpins who are wanted in the Guadalajara murders. The units have made unannounced sweeps and raids in Tijuana during the last nine months.

Federal and state officers in Tijuana were not alerted when a special unit swooped in late last year and arrested a brother of one of the Arellano kingpins in Tijuana. The secretive operations of the federal special units have fomented accusations in the press that some local law enforcement officials are in league with drug lords.

Although one U.S. drug agent said the brazenness of Thursday’s shooting seems typical of the ruthless Arellano organization, officials said there was no evidence of the group’s involvement.

Asked if he thought the Arellanos were involved, Baja Atty. Gen. Juan Francisco Franco Rios said, “I don’t think so, because those gentlemen have been on the run.”

On Friday, investigators, officials and reporters milled about the headquarters of the state and federal police as officers with automatic weapons stood guard.

Few details were made available about what might have triggered the bloodshed and whether officers fired at one another or at drug traffickers.

Miramontes, the state officer, and a partner were riding in a vehicle that came under fire as it was stopped at a stoplight, according to Cmdr. Alvarez. The officers were on duty at the time, Alvarez said.

“They were approached by someone who started shooting at them,” he said.

Witnesses said they saw an argument between the state officers in one vehicle and federal officers riding in two other vehicles before the shooting, according to journalist Enrique Garcia Sanchez, who went to the scene after hearing the shots. Gunmen in at least one other vehicle, described by witnesses as a Volkswagen Jetta, also took part.

Investigators recovered 14 weapons, including three belonging to state judicial officers, Alvarez said.

The case is being investigated jointly by the state and federal forces, officials said.