Juárez Mayor: 'We are not Most Dangerous City'

By Marisela Ortega Lozano
El Paso Times

Five people were gunned down in Juárez on Friday, the day before the mayor declared that Juárez is no longer the most dangerous city in Mexico.

Chihuahua state prosecutors said two men in their late 30s were ambushed while riding in a gray 2000 Pontiac Grand AM without license plates at Aeronáutica Street and Panamerican Highway.

In the northern part of the city, across from New Mexico, a man was shot to death Friday afternoon in the grocery store he owned, officials said. José Gómez Marín, 36, was attacked in his store at La Conquista and Hipocampo streets in Anapra.

In another incident, a man in his mid-30s was shot to death in the middle of a street late Friday, authorities said. The victim was found at General Máximo Castillo and Caridad Bravo Adams streets.

Also Friday night, a man in his mid-20s was found dead at Libertad and Ignacio Ronquillo streets near downtown, officials said.

As of Friday, 843 people had been killed in the city this year.

Juárez Mayor Héctor Murguía declared Saturday in a written statement: "We are not the most violent and dangerous city in the country anymore, but we are holding the fourth place. It doesn't mean setting all the bells ringing, though."

He did not say what other areas of Mexico have become more dangerous.