By Marisela Ortega Lozano
El Paso Times
EL PASO, Texas — Juárez chief of police, Julián Leyzaola, has filed a formal complaint against several Mexican federal police officers accusing them of attempted murder because they reportedly shot at his vehicle several times Monday night.
The alleged shooting took place late Monday night outside the Cereso prison in Juárez. The shooting reportedly occurred while inmates were fighting inside the prison. Leyzaola was unharmed.
Leyzaola filed his complaint Wednesday with the Mexican District Attorney General in Juárez.
According to a press release sent by Mexican federal police, officers fired at Leyzaola because he rushed through a checkpoint without stopping.
But Juárez City Manager Hector Arcelcs called the shooting “a clear attack” against Leyzaola and accused the federal police of intentionally opening fire against him.
Julián Leyzaola, 51, a retired lieutenant colonel from the Mexican army, was sworn in as the new municipal police chief of Juárez in March after almost two years handling the same job in Tijuana, another border city hammered by drug-related violence.
Copyright 2011 El Paso Times