Republished June 13, 2020 - 1:08 PM
Original Publication Date June 13, 2020 - 11:56 AM
MEXICO CITY - A Mexican judge on Saturday ordered a police officer who fatally shot a 16-year-old Mexican-American boy to be held in preventive detention while he is investigated for alleged murder.
The boy, Alexander Martínez Gómez, was shot in the head by a police officer in southern Mexico Tuesday night. Born in North Carolina, he had been living with his mother in Acatlan de Perez Figueroa, a town in Oaxaca state, and was out with friends on motorcycles at the time of the shooting.
The police officer was in a patrol driving with its vehicle lights off when it blocked the way of the boy and eight other youths, according to prosecutors. The officer then got out with a shotgun and opened fire, they said.
Another boy whose motorcycle skidded during the incident was hospitalized in stable condition.
Relatives have met with representatives of the state government, which has promised the killing will not go unpunished.
The town government of Acatlan de Perez Figueroa earlier said a police officer was involved in the shooting, but that it hadn’t been “in bad faith.”
Some other officers in the department were already under investigation over allegations of excessive use of force and even extrajudicial killings related to a shootout in mid-May in which six alleged criminals died. After that incident, more state and federal forces were sent to secure the area.
News from © The Associated Press, 2020