Chapala police have registered two murders and a presumed suicide since the beginning of June.
The first case involved a male homicide victim, approximately 35 years old, who was gunned down in central Chapala on the night of Tuesday, June 2, apparently while trying to escape assailants who were pursuing him aboard a truck and a motorcycle. The chase ended when the victim crashed his vehicle in the vicinity of the municipal soccer field, giving his killers an opportunity to fire off the fatal shots. Two innocent bystanders riding in the second car involved in the collision suffered minor injuries.
Another male, identified as a resident of Ajijic also in his mid-thirties, died of multiple stab wounds late Friday, June 5. His body was reportedly dumped from an ATV just before midnight at the doorstep of the Hospital Ajijic, where staff alerted the authorities. Police arriving on the scene were unable to detect the man’s vital signs.
A third death, reported on the evening of Tuesday, June 8, was the apparent suicide of a 28-year-old Chapala man who was found by family members at their home on Calle Guerrero. The body was discovered hanging by the neck at the end of a rope attached to a roof beam.
In all three deadly incidents the corpses were retrieved by personnel from the Jalisco Institute of Forensic Sciences, while state authorities initiated investigations.