21 replies to this topic

[HK70]

Mater Dei student slain in Mexico

Teen gunned down in car near home
By Sandra Dibble, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Tuesday, January 5, 2010 at 11:04 p.m.

Like many other well-to-do young residents of Tijuana, José Fernando Labastida Fimbres crossed the border daily to attend private school in San Diego County. But yesterday, José was missing from classes at Mater Dei Catholic High School in Chula Vista.

José, a 17-year-old junior, was gunned down gangland-style Monday afternoon in Tijuana’s Chapultepec neighborhood. The assailants fired 59 shots — 39 of them from an AK-47 rifle — at José at 4:30 p.m. as he sat inside his black Audi parked near his house.

He was one of six homicide victims reported Monday, the latest in a renewed wave of violence that has gripped the city in recent weeks, most of it perpetrated by rival criminal gangs targeting each other’s members. The great majority of crimes have taken place elsewhere in the city, not in the hillside enclave of the city’s elite.

José was a member of one of Tijuana’s most prominent families. The Fimbres family is known for its Calimax supermarket chain and philanthropic acts. José’s maternal grandfather is Gilberto Fimbres, one of the chain’s current owners.

Rommel Moreno Manjarrez, Baja California’s attorney general, said yesterday that investigators have uncovered no motive for the killing. But Moreno said the teen was clearly targeted: “It was a direct act against him.”

The killing brought out hundreds of mourners for a Mass last night. They packed the aisles of Espiritu Santo Catholic Church in the heart of Chapultepec and crowded the surrounding streets with newer cars.

“It is just a horrible sadness, what is happening to our city that people are killing themselves in such a manner?” Yolanda Enriquez de la Fuente, a former member of Tijuana’s City Council, said as she walked out. “How can this happen in our city? Many families are suffering this way.”

A year ago, José’s uncle, Rafael Fimbres, was killed with a single bullet while resisting a robbery attempt blocks from the spot where the teen was shot repeatedly. His uncle’s killers were caught.

Yesterday, friends remembered José as an ardent golfer who regularly played at Club Campestre in Tijuana and participated in tournaments. At the church altar, someone had placed an empty golf bag, and fellow golfers attending the service carried golf clubs in their friend’s honor.

“He was a fantastic golfer, he played since he was a little kid and liked it so much,” said José Favela, 16, who attends St. Augustine High School in North Park. “He gave me some tips so I could play better.”

Inside the church and outside, young mourners hugged each other and cried. Two girls sat by a photograph of José Labastida, caressing it.

“He’s an awesome child, the best, this was just a tragedy,” said a Mater Dei classmate, a 16-year-old girl named Malissa who crosses the border every day to attend school. She did not want to give her last name, and neither did another friend, Luis, 17, a student at St. Augustine.

José “was a great guy, what can I tell you? He didn’t deserve this,” Luis said.

Link to story

[C-Lo]

so terribly sad! I hate reading or hearing the local news. Mexico is so much more than these nonsense crimes

[otayBill]

Especially sad considering his Uncle was also killed in Chapultepec a year ago.

I think they are one of the wealthiest families in Tijuana.

[Klort]

The news said he was a U.S. citizen who lived in Tijuana and his car had California plates. The police are now saying it was not a kidnapping attempt, it was assassination. Poor thing.

[C-Lo]

right, and now yesterday three more teenagers were gunned down outside their school and killed. WTF?

[Tjc-tahc]

What is this about
story right below the killing of the three kids
http://www.frontera....010/422772.aspx
According to the state's leader, Jose Luis Parra Vázquez around 4:00 hours a group of at least 10 hooded individuals with high-powered guns broke down the door and entered to the master bedroom where they were and took them away.

This to the presence of her two school-age daughters, a girl of 17 years and as little as 14 years, who witnessed the scene in which individuals abruptly pulled their parents.

Full of fear and dazed with fear, the child contacted his close relatives to let them know the tragic scene.

It was learned that the gunmen wore uniforms bearing the insignia of the AFI, and departed aboard three cars: a Suburban and a Yukon Cherokee.

In the afternoon, the family filed the formal complaint of abduction to the authorities of the State Attorney.

What is going on in Mexico
Oh just to return to US
at least there I can have a rifle

[Tjc-tahc]

right, and now yesterday three more teenagers were gunned down outside their school and killed. WTF?

I just noticed they updated the story to blame it all on the "Drug Trade"

"Possible criminal
State authorities said a Border that the young driver of the vehicle, Manuel "N", 17, could be linked to organized crime. "

That means from what I have heard on the street "don't have a clue or a relative related to the government is involved so probably no to be solved"

Did any one notice that now that Mexico like the USA is getting a little heat for raising taxes
now the President has made the war on crime 3 on his list instead of 1.

TJC

[CB]

so has everybody pulled their heads out of the sand and realized that Mexico is more dangerous than the US? or is there still some denial?

[RosaritoRosie]

so has everybody pulled their heads out of the sand and realized that Mexico is more dangerous than the US? or is there still some denial?

In a word? "No."

www.nationmaster.com

Most recent murder statistics:
13,144 - Mexico
16,204 - United States

[CB]

gee, according to that site,
Murders per capita:

VIEW DATA: Totals Per capita
Definition Source Printable version
Bar Graph Map

Showing latest available data.
Rank Countries Amount
# 1 Colombia: 0.617847 per 1,000 people
# 2 South Africa: 0.496008 per 1,000 people
# 3 Jamaica: 0.324196 per 1,000 people
# 4 Venezuela: 0.316138 per 1,000 people
# 5 Russia: 0.201534 per 1,000 people
# 6 Mexico: 0.130213 per 1,000 people
# 7 Estonia: 0.107277 per 1,000 people
# 8 Latvia: 0.10393 per 1,000 people
# 9 Lithuania: 0.102863 per 1,000 people
# 10 Belarus: 0.0983495 per 1,000 people
# 11 Ukraine: 0.094006 per 1,000 people
# 12 Papua New Guinea: 0.0838593 per 1,000 people
# 13 Kyrgyzstan: 0.0802565 per 1,000 people
# 14 Thailand: 0.0800798 per 1,000 people
# 15 Moldova: 0.0781145 per 1,000 people
# 16 Zimbabwe: 0.0749938 per 1,000 people
# 17 Seychelles: 0.0739025 per 1,000 people
# 18 Zambia: 0.070769 per 1,000 people
# 19 Costa Rica: 0.061006 per 1,000 people
# 20 Poland: 0.0562789 per 1,000 people
# 21 Georgia: 0.0511011 per 1,000 people
# 22 Uruguay: 0.045082 per 1,000 people
# 23 Bulgaria: 0.0445638 per 1,000 people
# 24 United States: 0.042802 per 1,000 people
# 25 Armenia: 0.0425746 per 1,000 people

which means, you are 3 times more likely to be murdered in Mexico than the US
and im sure that the tijuana area compared to the san diego area has a much higher discrepensy..
should i bother to research that? i know that tj avgs more than 10 murders a week including law enforcement.

[Keyno]

Hey,
great great site, so much info, thanks.

nation master, but why the stats up to 2006?

Hmmm CBs got a point, but....murders=war on drug cartels(MEX), same as war in Iraq and Afghanistan(USA)?

[Keyno]

Gee wizz, just checked out Crime Statistics=Kidnappings, United Kingdom, South Africa, and Canada, top three? No mention of Mexico, what's going on here? Is Mexico off the chart?

http://www.nationmas...ime-kidnappings

[C-Lo]

I agree there are a lot of murders her in TJ. According to the news, there were 30 murders here the fist 6 days of the new year and the cartels are to blame. But....when teenagers and random people start getting gunned down, possibly just to prove a point, I feel uneasy. I will just continue keeping to myself and being aware of my surroundings. There isn't much defense against AK47s.

[Klort]

Murder may be higher down in Mexico but some are saying that it's usually just those involved in drugs and probably deserved to get killed. I looked at the other crimes...

Assaults (per capita):
United States: 7.56923 per 1,000 people
Mexico: 2.40275 per 1,000 people

Burglaries (per capita):
United States: 7.09996 per 1,000 people
Mexico: 1.31521 per 1,000 people

Car Thefts (per capita):
United States: 3.8795 per 1,000 people
Mexico: 1.49526 per 1,000 people

Robberies (per capita):
Mexico: 2.02555 per 1,000 people
United States: 1.38527 per 1,000 people

[CB]

im not bashing, as i live here too, i just want all to be aware and to try to be safe.

peace

[CB]

yeah, but much crime down here goes unreported, son cosas del oficio!

[Klort]

I agree with you, what can the police do?

England recently blamed its crime increase on "better reporting techniques"

Would an unlocked car disappear faster in Tijuana or San Diego? It would definitely be Tijuana.

[C-Lo]

I disagree that anyone involved in drugs deserves to be killed...

A teenager that is young and stupid who starts selling drugs, most likely pot, does not derserve to be killed! The cartels exploit the poor with money and intimidation and use them to do their dirtywork such as killings. It is kill or be killed for those who get involved. I can't see the police being able to end organized crime because there is too much money at stake. I don't know the solution either and this is a topic of debate in my house all the time...what is the answer?

[otayBill]

Now Back to the Fimbres boy's death, Calimax Family, the Tijuana press is reporting he hung out with organized crime members. And the family tried intervene by sending him to school in San Diego.

In Spanish,
http://afntijuana.info/blog/?p=24888

[RosaritoRosie]

Here's another unsubstantiated rumor: Calimax not paying employees their due so retaliation to make a point. Just fyi. In any case, very sad that a young man lost his life - whatever the "reason."