A 30-year-old Mexican journalist has been shot dead outside his house in a suspected gang-related hit in Mexico.
Marcos Ernesto Islas Flores was shot dead outside his home in the area of Lomas Verdes in the city of Tijuana in the Mexican state of Baja California on Saturday night, 5th February.
The victim succumbed to his injuries at the scene and his body was taken away for autopsy.
Meanwhile, local police have arrested a man, identified as 25-year-old Jocssar Fidel ‘N’, in connection with the suspected hit, according to the state Attorney General’s Office.
The victim’s father Marco Antonio Islas Parra, also a journalist, said the shooter left a “narco message” at the scene, suggesting the killing was connected to a criminal organisation. He also revealed that his son was shot four times.
No motive was given for the alleged shooting by the authorities as the investigation continues.
At the end of January, another Mexican journalist, who had just won a lawsuit for unfair dismissal from a broadcaster owned by the former governor of the state of Baja California, was murdered after saying that she feared for her life.
Lourdes Maldonado Lopez was gunned down in Tijuana at around 7pm on 23rd January. She was the second journalist to be murdered in the state in less than a week.
Maldonado, who had been registered in the State Mechanism for the Protection of Journalists and Human Rights Defenders since 2021, had successfully sued the news organisation Primer Sistema de Noticias, which is owned by former Baja California state governor Jaime Bonilla, 71, for unfair dismissal after she was fired several years ago.
She reportedly won her court case on 19th January.
She had also said at a press conference with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in 2020 that she feared for her life.
She said: “I come here to ask for support and labour justice, because I even fear for my life.”
Maldonado was found dead by responding emergency workers who were called after witnesses heard gunshots.
The neighbours had also found it suspicious that her car had been stationary with the engine on for around 40 minutes.
She was found dead in a red, sedan-type car, which had a broken window on the driver’s side, which was caused by bullets.
Police are currently investigating the murder.
