A police officer in the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas has been charged with murder after he allegedly killed a minor boy after mistaking him for a gunman. He and five other officers are also charged with fabricating evidence to cover up the incident.
Last week, the Tamaulipas Attorney General's Office arrested six police officers identified only by their first names: Juan Jesús, Omar Magdiel, Dario, Miguel Ángel, Quintin and Osiel. Two other police officers remain at large.
Prosecutors say Quintin is believed to have fatally shot 15-year-old Pedro Israel and has been charged with one count of murder, one count of misconduct as a police officer and one count of concealment. There is. crime. The remaining five officers have been charged with concealing a crime and misconduct as police officers.
The officers' arrest came nearly a month after they allegedly shot and killed Pedro Israel. The boy was driving his mother's white SUV to a local gas station in Reynosa when the shooting occurred. The police allegedly mistook the boy for the gunman and shot him dead. Prosecutors said the boy then placed weapons and road spikes in the car to make it appear as if he had taken part in a shootout with authorities.
Days after the first shooting, Tamaulipas Public Security Secretary Sergio Hernando Chávez ignored the initial information and publicly defended the officers, claiming they were defending themselves from a group of armed men, including teenagers.
The incident follows a 2021 incident in which a Tamaulipas state police squad mistook a convoy of human smugglers for cartel gunmen and opened fire, killing 19 victims, including 17 migrants and two human smugglers. are surprisingly similar. As reported by Breitbart Texas, officers in the incident set the victim's body and vehicle on fire, claiming they encountered the remains of a shootout between gunmen from rival cartels. Authorities ultimately arrested 12 police officers and sentenced them to 50 years in prison in 2023.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist at Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Breitbart, Texas Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and Breitbart's senior management team. you can follow him Twitter And even more facebook. He can be contacted at: iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Breitbart, Texas Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and Breitbart's senior management team. please follow him Twitter and facebook. He can be contacted at: bdarby@breitbart.com.
