TIJUANA, Baja California — A second journalist was shot and killed in Tijuana on Sunday night, coming on the heels of a similar murder less than a week earlier.
So far, there is no evidence to prove the two killings were related, and it appeared two different weapons were used.
A group of journalists gathered Monday in front of the Municipal Police headquarters in Tijuana, wanting answers in the investigation into the shooting deaths of their colleagues.
Photojournalist Margarito Martínez was shot and killed on Monday, Jan. 17 at his home in eastern Tijuana as he left for work.
Then, on the evening of Sunday, Jan. 23, journalist Lourdes Maldonado was shot in the face as she arrived home in the southern part of the city.
Veteran journalist, Vicente Calderon – with TijuanaPress.com – attended Monday's demonstration at the police station.
“It's not just journalists. In this town every day there's an average of five murders. Police officers get killed, kids get killed, massacres are not unusual. Body parts are left, left and right, in the city. So, everybody should be concerned,” Calderon said.
Martínez was shot three times and his body found by his teenage daughter, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Calderon said bullet casings found at the Martinez murder scene link the gun to other shootings associated with one of Tijuana's three drug cartels. The weapon was not recovered.
“Based on the bullet casings that they recovered from the crime scene, they were able to trace that gun to five different crimes from 2020,” he said.
A different weapon, apparently a revolver, was used in the shooting death of Maldonado, as no bullet casings were found, Calderon said.
“She was arriving to her house and just parked in front of the residence, and somebody shot her,” Calderon reported.
Maldonado's killing has not been linked to drug cartels.
She had been involved in a years-long legal battle with a former Baja governor, and she had requested police protection as part of a government-run program aimed at preventing violence against journalists.
“Based on the number of reporters and journalists killed in Mexico, that mechanism is not working,” Calderon said.
Mexico is considered the most dangerous country in the world for journalists. Last year, at least seven journalists were killed in Mexico, according to the nonprofit Reporters Without Borders.
No suspects in the two recent Tijuana killings are in custody. The Baja Attorney General's office has assigned a special unit to investigate the deaths.