Two criminal suspects were killed and a police officer seriously injured in a shootout that took place Monday, June 17 in San Juan Cosala.
The incident occurred at around 4 p.m. as local police were following up a report of armed men spotted leaving Jocotepec aboard a Nissan Tsuru sedan. Patrolmen caught sight of the vehicle on the stretch of highway running through the center of San Juan. The driver was reportedly forced to stop by a bus that was momentarily blocking the roadway. According to eye witnesses, he got out of the car and immediately opened fire on the policemen, injuring one of the officers in the shoulder and face. Others riding in the back of the police truck returned fire, taking down the aggressor and a passenger.
In the aftermath, investigators at the scene recovered two pistols, two 50-caliber assault rifles, tactical gear and a small amount of marijuana among the suspects’ belongings.
One of the dead gunmen has been formally identified as Salvador Torres Padilla, 22, of Chapala, who succumbed from a bullet wound to the head. At press time the other had only identified by unofficial sources as Ajijic native Julio Zamora, known as “El Manco.”
Gabriel Sanchez Espinoza, head official at Chapala’s Ministerio Publico (district attorney’s office), told reporters that the two men were local drug pushers presumably associated with the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion organized crime syndicate.
The injured policeman is under hospital care and expected to recover.