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Border & Immigration

2 Police Dead 1 Injured in Spate of Attacks in Tijuana and Rosarito

Analysis: Police Killings in Tijuana

At least two policemen were killed and one wounded in a series of attacks on law enforcement officials Monday evening in Tijuana and Rosarito. KPBS Reporter Amy Isackson tells us Mexican authorities say they’re hearing threats there will be more.

A Tijuana commercial policeman was the first reported dead at around 7 p.m.

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Officials in Baja California’s Attorney General’s office say Geronimo Jimenez Calderon was found shot to death in the back of his own patrol car in a commercial strip on Tijuana’s southern outskirts.

About an hour later, authorities say a policeman, Ruben Villegas Bartolini, was ambushed in Rosarito. Authorities say a group of men wearing face masks fired machine guns from a sport utility vehicle.

Moments before, they say gunmen tried to kill another Rosarito agent outside a restaurant. But the agent escaped injury.

Then, around 8:30 p.m., officials say gunmen shot at another Tijuana policeman, Francisco Javier Lopez Ibarra. This one was in the parking lot of a large discount store in the city’s east. Officials say the agent was hit in the leg.

Law enforcement officials say killers left a message at one of the murders threatening to go after more police.

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Last April, gunmen killed seven agents in Tijuana in 45 minutes.