Tijuana: 16 year old killed in targeted execution

16 year old boy killed as gunmen storm house

The violence lulls, the numbers shift, ebb and tide, but the killings remains.  The cruel realities of Tijuana and similar cities are omnipresent, any absence, any relief, is almost an illusion, a mirage, that exists and drifts away in the same breath.  Yes, killings in Tijuana were down last month, however, bodies still fall, and in the Colonia's beset by violence and everyday brutality, the bloodshed remains regardless. 

Yesterday, in Colonia Reforma, in the alley La Escondia, a 16 year old boy was murdered, and his mother shot several times, though she survived, and was taken to a hospital.  The image is enough, a teenager crumpled on the floor of a small house, blanket around the neck, as blood leaks to the floor.  Difficult to imagine why a 16 year old needed to be murdered.  But here?  Many reasons.

Not paying piso, paying piso to the 'wrong' team, not paying for a few ounces of crystal, suspected of informing to a rival group or police, the list goes of infractions that are punishable by death.  The Mom could easily have been the intended victim too, and the son just collateral damage.  Or kill everyone in the home.  The cycle of killing and cruelty goes on.  

Two men were murdered elsewhere in the city in the last day or so, and two more in Rosarito, leaving one wounded after an attack.  Despite record numbers of tourism during 4th of July, the two cities structures of corruption, greed, and violence remain unchanged.  

Past the crime scene pictures, which capture the depravity and violence in a single frame, the disturbing behavior of the elite haunts me as much.  This doesn't have to happen, and when it does, there doesn't have to the silent, ignored reactions, where the victims are dismissed as criminals.  The political class and the social elite toast their glasses and have another drink, until one of their own is taken, and then there is an outcry.  Then there will be changes.  

Sources: AFN Tijuana