An American man was killed when a Mexican police officer opened fire on a car he was traveling in Ciudad Juárez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, Mexican authorities said Monday.
The district prosecutor in the state of Chihuahua, Carlos Manuel Salas, said that the shooting happened on Sunday when a police officer was escorting an employee of the prosecutor’s office, who was delivering a letter. The two were walking when a Mustang with New Mexico license plates suddenly sped into their path, according to Mr. He said the policeman opened fire when the driver tried to escape.
Mr. Salas said that the officer is in custody and the shooting incident, which was captured on video by a passenger in the car, will be investigated by the internal division of the state prosecutor’s office. In a press conference, Mr. Salas described the incident as “sad” and urged the public to refrain from drawing conclusions until the investigation is complete.
But he was seen answering the police officer, whose name has been withheld. According to Mr. Salas, the car was traveling at high speed and skidded when it approached the police officer, and almost hit him. He said the driver was wearing a helmet.
“Why will you hurry?” he asked. “Why are you driving at that speed?”
Mr. Salas argued that if the same thing happened in another country, including the United States, the police might respond with force.
Authorities did not identify the person killed, describing him as a nursing assistant from El Paso. But Mexican media reported that his name was Julián Alfredo Rodríguez Medina. News reports say the man and one of the two passengers in the car had family members who lived nearby.
In an interview with the El Diario newspaper, a man who called himself the driver’s brother, and who was in the car, asked the government officials to open a case against the policeman.
The man, who identified himself as Jorge AR, said that he and the other men in the car were getting out to find something to eat when they were shot. He said they were not scared and were far away from the police officer when he opened fire.
“We never threatened him, or yelled at him, or pushed him out of the car,” El Diario quoted the man as saying.
Mr. Salas, the prosecutor, said US officials were informed about the shooting in accordance with procedure. A spokesperson for the United States Embassy said in a statement that officials are “closely monitoring the local authorities’ investigation into this reported murder.”
The incident is the latest in a series of violent deaths of Americans in Mexico.
Last week, a 62-year-old man from Rockford, Ill., was shot dead at a highway checkpoint in the state of Zacatecas by what his family says is a gang. A few days ago, two American citizens and a Mexican were shot dead in the state of Durango in an ambush that left an American teenager seriously injured.
The President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, has pledged to control the violence that has engulfed most of the country. Although officials often point to fighting between drug cartels as the cause of the bloodshed, experts say violence involving police is also unusual.
The shooting of the American on Sunday sparked a heated debate after a video recorded by a passenger was posted on social media. Many called for severe consequences for the arrested officer, while some commenters threatened to kill him.
On Monday, authorities announced an arrest in the Durango shooting, which took place on December 27. They identified the suspect as Iram Uranga Armendáriz, and said the shooting stemmed from a debt dispute related to a land deal.
Mr. Ranga is accused of shooting two men in the head, then another two – including a teenager – from behind as they tried to flee on foot. The teenager, Jason Peña, 14 years old from Chicago, was said to be in critical condition at a Houston hospital on Monday.
Emiliano Rodríguez Mega reporting contributed.
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