A Mexican crime journalist who was under police protection following an assassination attempt was shot dead on Sunday, local officials said.
Alejandro Martinez Noguez, who ran a prominent online media outlet, was killed while driving with his bodyguards in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato after carrying out a reporting assignment, the Celaya city security department said.
The secretariat said in a statement that, “Civilian assailants riding in a pickup truck opened fire with long-barreled weapons towards the car assigned to the reporter and his escort team by the city government.”
Police sources told AFP news agency that highway police travelling with Martinez Noguez returned fire at the attackers, but the reporter was shot in the head while sitting in the back seat.
He was rushed to hospital but eventually died.
A woman in another car was shot and wounded by a stray bullet, the source said.
Martinez Noguez survived a shooting in 2022 and has since been given protection by the city government under a federal program for journalists who receive death threats, a government official told Reuters. AFP.
According to a news media advocacy group, Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists due to violence related to drug trafficking.
Reporters Without Borders says more than 150 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 1994. (th/ka)
