10 people slain in Tijuana area in three-day period

SAN DIEGO — Ten people were killed between Saturday and Monday, including two young women and a police officer, as the Tijuana area suffered its worst bout of violence since an April shootout that killed 13 gunmen, Baja California authorities said.

Most of the seven incidents did not appear directly related to the Mexican government’s offensive against organized crime, which has claimed more than 170 lives this year in Tijuana.

The two women’s deaths were the exception. Their bodies were discovered Sunday morning on a hillside in eastern Tijuana. They had been shot execution-style with large-caliber bullets, the kind typically used by drug cartel gunmen, according to the attorney general’s office.

The women, both believed to be in their 20s, have not been identified, and police did not have a motive in the case.

Authorities said the municipal police officer, Gustavo Salas Reyes, a 16-year veteran, was shot after an argument in a bar early Sunday morning. Two men died Saturday night in separate incidents, including one at a taco stand slain in a drive-by shooting, authorities said.

On Sunday, police discovered the bodies of three suspected car thieves on a Rosarito Beach hillside. Two more people were killed Monday, but little information was available on those cases.

No arrests had been made in any of the slayings, authorities said.

--

[email protected]