U.S. High School Students Shot To Death In Mexico

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — Three teenage boys were shot to death in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez, at least two of them U.S. citizens and high school students in Texas, authorities said Monday.

The boys were killed at 4:22 p.m. Saturday while looking at cars in a dealership in the city across the border from El Paso, Texas, Chihuahua prosecutors' spokesman Arturo Sandoval said. One was found inside a white Jeep Cherokee and the other two in the courtyard.

There were no leads on suspects or a motive, Sandoval said. Two managers were also in the dealership during the attack. One refused to give a statement, while the statement from the other manager was not released because of the pending investigation, Sandoval added. At least 60 bullet casings were found at the scene.

One of the boys, Carlos Mario Gonzalez Bermudez, 16, was a sophomore at Cathedral High School in El Paso, said Nick Gonzalez, the Roman Catholic brother who is the principal. Another victim, Juan Carlos Echeverri, 15, had been a freshman at the private all-boys Catholic school last year but left to study in Ciudad Juarez, Gonzalez said.

Both were U.S. citizens, he said. The U.S. Embassy in Mexico City said it could provide no immediate information on the case.

The third teenager was identified as Cesar Yalin Miramontes Jimenez, 17.

The school principal said Gonzalez Bermudez mainly lived in Ciudad Juarez and commuted each day across the border. He said 20 percent of the 485 students enrolled at Cathedral are from Ciudad Juarez.

Gonzalez said the school's sophomore class had a prayer service Monday and officials planned a rosary service for the entire school later in the week.

"It's a lot of pain, a lot of sorrow, a lot of tears, a lot of coming together as a community to try to hold each other up and to try and make sense today," Gonzalez said. "How do you make sense of this meaningless tragedy? Hopefully this can really empower us to make a positive change in the border community because their deaths will have no meaning otherwise."

Many Ciudad Juarez residents travel across the border on a daily basis for work or study. Some Mexicans live in El Paso for safety reasons and commute to Ciudad Juarez.

Ciudad Juarez city has become one of the world's most dangerous cities amid a fierce turf war between the Sinaloa and Juarez drug cartels. More than 3,000 people were killed last year in the city of 1.3 million residents.

Gonzalez said students at the school have had a number of relatives killed in the violence in Ciudad Juarez. A graduate of the school was killed last fall, he said.

"Our Juarez kids knew all three" of the teenagers killed over the weekend, he said. "It's a very tight knit community. A lot of them car pool; that's how they know each other."

___

Associated Press writer Olivia Torres reported this story in Ciudad Juarez and Juan A. Lozano from Houston, Texas.

Comments

[Balzac]

06:57 PM on 02/09/2011

I condemn these murders. Condolences to their families. There must be proper criminal investigations.

I want these murderers caught. It's extremely frustrating that so many unsolved murders have been allowed to happen, and these senseless murders are used to reinforce a failed drug policy.

Mexico's unsolved crime problem is mostly due to government neglect. It's as if the government is allowing people to suffer in the hope that everyone will agree with the stupid drug policies.

Mexico's president, Philipe Calderon, has a duty to his people to stand up to the USA and to say your drug prohibition is hurting our people.

But he won't do that. Instead, he says the problem is drugs and we just have to have towns run by outlaws. He needs to focus on suppressing violence, not commerce.

At least have some hidden surveillance cameras set up in these towns. How can so many murders be unsolved, if not for extreme negligence on the part of the government?

When I read that a young woman had been deputized to be the cop in a small town in which other cops had already given up, I wondered, who is allowing this? How can a girl be left to do that?

And what about that mother who was protesting the murder of her daughter? How can they be left exposed like that? I urge President Calderone to change his drug policy, resist the tyranny from the northern neighbor of Mexico, and impose law and order.

[taylor5]

09:45 AM on 02/09/2011

Legalize pot and stiffen the penalties on the folk who launder the money.

[BlairCase]

07:26 AM on 02/09/2011

The students weren't shopping for cars. They were looking at tire rims when the gunmen came in looking for the owner of the shop. They just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Although two were U.S. citiezens, they apparently lived most of their lives in Juarez and attended private schools in El Paso. They may have been U.S. citizens because they were born in El Paso hospital. One went to Radford School while the other went to Cathedral High Schoo;. Both are private Catholic schools that charge tuition. Mexico offers dual citizenship to U.S. citizens of Mexican ancestry, so many Mexican-Americans are citizens of Mexico as well as the United States.

[sammyscout]

01:51 PM on 02/09/2011

"They may have been U.S. citizens because they were born in El Paso hospital."

in other words, you're telling us they were not white, just co-incidentally US citizens. Nice!

[genrel1248]

06:36 AM on 02/09/2011

Yep, the only solution is more guns. Guns for everyone!

[drjasonmd]

03:17 AM on 02/09/2011

Is this journalism or sensationalism?

We pay 30-35% annual interest rates on auto loans here in Mexico.

Financing requires at least a 20% down payment.

It takes 5 to 7 years of a solid employment record to have any chance of getting financing, and even then you need at least a few credit cards with a long payment history.

Cars cost at least 20% more in Mexico than they do for the same model in the US.

Yet these 16-year-olds were out shopping for cars in Juarez? Nobody in this country buys a car in this country if they have any legal means, such as US citizenship, to buy it in the States. Furthermore, the only way anyone in that age group has a chance of purchasing a car here is if they pay cash. Do 16-year-olds normally have $30K in their pockets to make such purchases?

There's far more to this story than the "journalist" who wrote it has bothered to find out. This isn't some random killing. I hope HP takes the time to do the follow-up next week when we learn that these kids were in the business and got taken out either by their creditors or by their competition.

Though I doubt that article will be forthcoming.

[think-it-over]

03:32 AM on 02/09/2011

If you came here looking for accuracy you're in the wrong place.

They can't even get a simple photo right. This is the same one used in the article about a shooting in Ohio. Since there's snow in the uncropped version it's a fairly safe bet that this isn't scene from a Mexican shooting.

[Pot]

03:42 PM on 02/09/2011

HP, like many news websites use stock photos hence why you seen the same photo for two stories.

[Patrick Carrillo]

03:59 AM on 02/09/2011

Good lord, we get it! You know about loan rates and interest and credit scores and things. You are soooooo smart.

'A car' does not mean a brand new 2011 Lexus. 'A car' means an automobile. Using common sense, there are many more used, preowned, cheap, lemon, and held-together-by-dirt, vehicles than there are brand new cars.

Use common sense, which would this age group, in this are of the world probably be looking for? A cheap old used car, or a brand new car.

Also, I know several people who have bought cars in Juarez, that DID in fact have means to purchase them in El Paso, simply because things are one way in Tijuana, does not mean they are the same in Juarez.

If you want the whole story here you go. They were looking at car rims at a store (which happened to be at a used-car dealership) when a group of guys went looking for the owner of the store. It does not say if the owner was ever killed, but the boys appeared to be collateral damage. In total 9 people were killed this past weekend in Juarez- not every killing is drug related.

Next time it would benefit you to research things before you get on your soapbox.
http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_17334731

[drjasonmd]

03:57 PM on 02/09/2011

My bad. I made the mistake of believing that anything printed in this story bared a resemblance to the actual facts.

http://www.tribunadeloscabos.com.mx/newpage/index.cfm?op=por&recordID=114880&seccion=Sucesos

[Ksig99]

02:21 AM on 02/09/2011

So if a Mexican comes into the U.S. illegally and uses drug money to buy a Gun through illegal channels. And then returns to Mexico and uses that Gun to Kill an American Citizen who is in Mexico legally not braking any laws. And the Criminal is America! And don't forget who the real victim is here it's the Mexican who shot the American! Mexico is worthless.

[emilyanne]

04:11 AM on 02/09/2011

No one has ever called such a person a "victim."
Trying to solve problems by looking at all aspects is not allowing a murderer off the hook.

Good grief.

[yellowdoggie]

06:56 AM on 02/09/2011

Such a Byzantine mind! Such twists and turns of logic!

[NoWayMan]

01:52 AM on 02/09/2011

As Mexico drug violence runs rampant, U.S. guns tied to crime south of border

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/12/AR2010121202663.html

[Jerry Bourbon]

12:05 PM on 02/10/2011

And if you believe THAT piece of propaganda, you probably believe that there were WMDs in Iraq, too.

[CanUFeel2012]

01:19 AM on 02/09/2011

Just scary how many American weapons are confiscated in Mexico...

[hagagaga]

12:43 AM on 02/09/2011

Just ask the ever-infallible Brady Campaign. This is the result of Mexico's overly-lenient gun laws.

Wait, I should have used another organization. The Brady Campaign's stated goal is a gun ban, and although Mexico is pretty damn close, it's not quite there.

If this was the USA, the article would be about American gun laws and oppressing millions of law-abiding Americans instead of the actual problem of violent crime

[Shagz2001]

12:41 AM on 02/09/2011

Oh this is just a simple case of supply and demand. There is a significant demand here, so that demand WILL be met by someone - It's a role only a criminal can fulfill. The law protects their source of cash and power... and women! (or so says Tony Montana).

[Kenz300]

12:35 AM on 02/09/2011

For too long the Mexican people have had governments that
provided very little in terms of jobs, security and a path out of poverty.

Mexicans deserve better from their elected leaders and from their police.

Crime, bribes and political corruption have been aloud to go on for so long
that it has become engrained in the police and politicians.

I give the current president credit for trying to root out the corruption
and working to change the society.

It will take the Mexican people rising up and saying no to the violence
and the drug dealers for the violence and corruption to stop.

If people in Egypt can demand change so can the Mexican people.

[econotarian]

02:08 AM on 02/09/2011

"For too long the Mexican people have had government s that
provided very little in terms of jobs, security and a path out of poverty."

The people of Mexico have voted democratically for the tough labor regulations that keep them poor (for example, it is easier to fire someone in the US than Mexico), the difficult business licensing regime, lengthy and burdensome bankruptcy proceedings, as well as continuing their stupid war on drugs. They support more socialism/statism.

[WorkhelpWorkhelp]

01:39 AM on 02/09/2011

Good luck on that.

[drjasonmd]

03:20 AM on 02/09/2011

If these white cracker americans would stop trying to solve public health problems with military and law-enforcement tactics, we wouldn't have a drug violence problem.

[Leege]

12:32 AM on 02/09/2011

I hate to say it, but the only way the citizens of Juarez are going to get their lives back is to:
1. Riot and burn down every cartel hacienda in the area and hang every cartel gunman they can find.
2. Pack up and leave en masse and leave the cartels be the people in charge of nothing.

This goes beyond law and order. The cartels are trying to become the power in Juarez and run things. If I lived down there, I don't think I'd have another choice.

[drjasonmd]

03:21 AM on 02/09/2011

There are no "cartel haciendas" to burn down. You are trapped in your own ignorance.

[yellowdoggie]

06:57 AM on 02/09/2011

But...but...on McGyver...

[Leege]

11:29 AM on 02/09/2011

Wherever the cartels are at. The residents are finally beginning to see that the cartels are worse than any corrupt governments.

Obviously, you don't know me, but I'd say that I have a better idea of what's going on down there than 95 percent of the population (not saying much, because some Minutemen think that all Hispanic are Mexican and they only know they live "South." I have taught a lot of kids who have families and relations down in Mexico, and every time they told me that they were going down there to visit, my heart stopped a little. Mexico is the result of our love of guns and drugs, and it's our Frankenstein monster we created.

[rojocabrito]

12:15 AM on 02/09/2011

I feel for the families but I cant help but wonder, why were these kids there? We come to the US and buy cars to bring 'em back to Mexico and turn a profit. It doesnt really work the other way around. "at least 60 bullets" is a bunch for no reason.

[drjasonmd]

03:22 AM on 02/09/2011

These kids were in the business. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out. The only reason HP latched on to this story is because these kids are US citizens. We lose kids like this everyday and they are always in the business.

16-year-olds don't buy cars in this country. It takes a long time to build enough credit to get a bank to finance you here.

[Leege]

11:31 AM on 02/09/2011

Many kids have families and relatives down there, even parents. My students traveled down to Mexico often to visit them (I taught junior high). I was always worried that something like this might happen to my kids, but so far it hasn't.

[FTracy3]

12:00 AM on 02/09/2011

Sad, disgusting. And coming soon to a border town near you. All you Northwest and Northeastern senators and congressmen, keep opposing tighter border and immigration enforcement.

[think-it-over]

03:28 AM on 02/09/2011

Yeah, this would never have happened if we didn't let US citizens go to foreign countries.