Government Denies Gunmen Were Executed After Last Week's Shootout in Michoacan EFE
go to original May 25, 2015

As drug-related violence claims lives in Mexico, the governments of the United States and Mexico are keeping an eye on emerging drug trafficking organizations. CCTV America’s Franc Contreras filed this report from Mexico. (CCTV)

Federal Police officers did not execute any of the gunmen involved in a shootout last week in the western Mexican state of Michoacan that left 42 suspected criminals and a law enforcement agent dead, officials said this week.

"There was not even one execution, Federal Police chief Enrique Galindo said, adding that three suspects were under arrest.

Two Federal Police officers were wounded in the shootout Friday morning at a ranch in Tinaja de Vargas, a community outside the city of Tanhuato.

The killings were not in retaliation for the shootdown of a military helicopter by the Jalisco Nueva Generacion drug cartel earlier this month, Galindo told Radio Formula.

The Jalisco Nueva Generacion cartel has been involved in a series of attacks in recent months, with the biggest occurring on May 1, when gunmen shot down a military helicopter, killing nine people.

The gunmen did not hesitate to open fire on the officers, who followed Federal Police procedures in the operation, Galindo said.

Analysts have questioned the high death toll among the gunmen in light of the June 30, 2014, killings of 22 civilians by army troops in Tlatlaya, a city in Mexico state, which surrounds the Federal District and forms part of the Mexico City metropolitan area.

Read the rest at Fox News Latino

Related: Mexico Shootout Update - Photos Raise Questions About Whether Police Planted Guns (IBTimes)

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