Three Ajijic residents were shot dead in back-to-back incidents late Sunday, April 8. Two other persons considered as innocent bystanders were injured by stray bullets.
According to information provided to the Reporter by the Chapala police department and the Ministerio Publico (MP) public prosecutor’s office, the first of the fatal attacks occurred shortly after 11 p.m. on Calle Colon, about a block and a half above the Chapala-Jocotepec highway.
Eyewitnesses told the authorities that gunmen riding in a white or light gray van and possibly a second vehicle came up behind a compact pickup truck that was traveling down the street, opening fire on the driver and his passenger as they pulled up to the sidewalk near the corner of Angel Flores.
The two men subsequently found dead inside the truck have been tentatively identified as Lorenzo Saucedo Ramos (a.k.a. El Lencho), age 32, and Jose Juan Limon Hernandez (a.k.a. El Tinatin), 45. Both suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the head, upper body and extremities, causing instant death.
A housewife residing in the vicinity was hit in the left foreman by a flying bullet as she opened her front door to look out into the street after hearing the barrage of gunfire erupt. A teenage boy who was heading home on foot at the time was shot in the left shoulder by another stray bullet. Both were taken to the Chapala Red Cross for medical treatment and later released after being questioned by MP personnel. Police chief Reynol Contreras requested that the names and addresses of the injured parties be kept confidential to protect their safety as key witnesses.
Investigators combing the crime scene found the victims’ truck riddled with 35 bullet holes and collected 30 assorted shell casings fired from AK-47 and R-5 assault rifles and a 9 millimeter pistol. Contreras told this newspaper that the stripped down Nissan pickup bearing Jalisco plates was listed on a register of stolen vehicles. It was missing the rear bed and had been primed for a new paint job.Evidence discovered inside the cabin included 15 small packets containing a white powder presumed to be crystal meth and a larger package filled with the same substance. Limon was found at the wheel with a 45 caliber pistol in his hand and 8,000 pesos in cash on his person.
The second shooting occurred almost simultaneously outside a residence located on the highway several blocks west of Colon, between Tempisque and 5 de Febrero. The victim has been formally identified as Ricardo Espiritu Perez, 25, who died in the driver’s seat of a blue pickup truck with California plates.
Although Espiritu was still breathing when municipal police arrived on the scene minutes after the attack, he expired before Red Cross paramedics were able to come to the rescue. He succumbed to two gunshots striking his right cheek and temple and a massive exit wound in the back of the head.
Considering the probable trajectory of the gunfire, Contreras speculates that the shooter was waiting on the north side of the highway when Espritu drove onto the shoulder to drop off his girlfriend at her home. Apparently, the young women had already gone inside when the shooting occurred, but rushed back out to comfort her dying fiancé in his final moments. She was later taken to the Red Cross to be treated for nervous shock.
So far the authorities have not established a clear link between the two fatal events other than the coincidence in timing. According to the police chief, Limon and Saucedo were well known by their aliases as drug consumers and petty criminals. He said that there are no police records indicating that Espiritu might have been involved in illegal activities. The perpetrators escaped into the night without a trace.