An American driver was shot dead by a police officer in Mexico

An American man was killed when a Mexican police officer opened fire on the car he was driving in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, Mexican authorities said Monday.

Chihuahua state regional prosecutor Carlos Manuel Salas said the shooting occurred on Sunday while the officer was escorting an employee from the public prosecutor’s office, who was serving an arrest warrant. The two were on foot when a Mustang with New Mexico license plates suddenly accelerated in their direction, according to Mr. Salas. He added that the officer opened fire while the driver tried to flee.

Mr. Salas said the officer was in custody and that the shooting, which was filmed by a passenger in the car, would be investigated by the Internal Affairs Division of the State Attorney’s Office. At a news conference, Mr Salas described the incident as “unfortunate” and urged the public to refrain from drawing conclusions until the investigation is complete.

But he appeared to be offering a defense for the officer, whose name was not revealed. According to Mr. Salas, the car was traveling at a high speed and skidded as it approached the officer, almost hitting him. He added that the driver was wearing a hood.

“Why are you accelerating?” He asked. “Why are you driving so fast?”

If something similar happened in another country, including the United States, police would also likely respond with force, Mr. Salas said.

Authorities did not identify the dead man, describing him only as a nursing assistant from El Paso. But the Mexican media I mentioned That his name was Julian Alfredo Rodriguez Medina. News reports said the man and at least one of the vehicle’s occupants had family members living nearby.

In an interview with the news agency DiaryA man who identified himself as the driver’s brother, and who said he was in the car, asked state officials to press charges against the officer.

The man, who identified himself only as Jorge R., said he and the other men in the car were out to eat when they were shot. He said they did not pose any threat and that they were a great distance from the officer when he opened fire.

El Diario newspaper quoted the man as saying: “At no time did we make any threats to him, we did not shout at him, and we did not slide the car.”

Prosecutor Mr Salas said US officials had been notified of the shooting in accordance with protocol. A US Embassy spokesperson said in a statement that officials are “closely monitoring local authorities’ investigations into the reported murder.”

This incident is the latest in a series of violent killings of Americans in Mexico.

Last week, there was a 62-year-old man from Rockford, Illinois Shooting at a highway checkpoint In the state of Zacatecas, which his family said was run by a criminal organization. Days earlier, two American citizens and a Mexican citizen were shot dead in Durango state in an ambush that also left one dead. An American teenager was seriously injured.

Mexico’s President, Claudia Sheinbaum, pledged to curb the violence that has rocked much of the country. While officials often point to battles between drug trafficking gangs as the cause of the bloodshed, experts say violence involving police is not rare either.

The shooting of the American on Sunday sparked heated controversy after the video recorded by the passenger was published on social media. Many demanded harsh consequences for the arrested officer, and some commentators made death threats.

On Monday, authorities announced the arrest of the perpetrators of the December 27 shooting incident in Durango. It identified the suspect as Iram Uranga Armendariz, and said the shooting stemmed from a dispute over a debt related to a land deal.

Mr Uranga was accused of shooting two of the men in the head, and then the other two – including the teenager – in the back as they tried to flee on foot. The 14-year-old Chicago teen, Jason Peña, was said to be in critical condition at a Houston hospital on Monday.

Emiliano Rodriguez Mega Contributed to reports.