Top Sonoran police official gunned down
by Fernanda Echavarri on Nov. 04, 2008, under Local, Special
Drug cartel members ambushed Sonora’s state police chief with grenades and guns, killing him as he and other law officers entered a hotel in Nogales, Son., on Sunday night, officials said.
Juan Manuel Pavón Félix died at a hospital shortly after sicarios – members of drug cartels and organized crime in Mexico – shot him, a news release from Sonora’s state police said.
The attack occurred at the Marqués de Cima hotel in central Nogales, less than three miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, as Pavón Félix and other law enforcement agents walked into the hotel about 8:30 p.m., Mexico authorities said.
The attackers opened fire and threw grenades at the chief and his escort from the upper level of the hotel, injuring numerous officials, the news release said.
Pavón Félix died shortly after arriving at the hospital, the release said.
The injured officials remained at the hospital Monday afternoon.
Mexican officials shut down the border for traffic going into Mexico for about two hours, said Brian Levin, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman.
U.S. border agents helped re-direct traffic for those who wanted to enter Mexico, but did not stop traffic going north into the U.S., he said.
Other Mexican law enforcement agents from out of town were inside their rooms at the hotel during the gun battle and were not hurt.
Earlier in the day, Pavón Félix made security sweeps in Nogales, authorities said.
Pavón Félix became chief on March 6, 2007, after working as a police investigator in Sonora cities. He was married and had two children, according to El Imparcial, a newspaper in Sonora.
