A Mexican online newspaper publisher, who reportedly moonlighted as a cell leader with the country's most vicious cartel and linked to...
A Mexican online newspaper publisher, who reportedly moonlighted as a cell leader with the country's most vicious cartel and linked to the 2016 disappearance and murder of five students, was among six people shot dead during a concert that was broadcasted live on Facebook.
Francisco 'El Primo' Navarrete was standing on ballroom stage in Tierra Blanca, Veracruz, as the show headlined by local group La Calle or The Street was close to concluding when several shots rang Friday night.
Video, posted on Sol de Tierra Blanca's account, showed a startled Navarrete looking around before he pulled out a gun and ran towards the area where the shooting was taking place.
Francisco 'El Primo' Navarrete pulls out his gun (circled) moments after shots were fired by gunmen who killed him and six other people, including two members of a local band that was about to finish up a concert at a ballroom in Tierra Blanca, Veracruz, on Friday
Francisco 'El Primo' Navarrete (pictured fourth from left to right) was the alleged leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel's cell in Veracruz, Mexico. He was gunned down after a shootout broke out towards the end of a Facebook Live concert
According to police reports, Navarrete was shot 50 times and was declared dead on the scene. Among the victims killed were two La Calle band members.
Band member José Alberto Muñiz and concert attendee Yuridia Figueroa were also wounded in the shooting.
Local media said Navarrete, who founded his publication October 2019, was the purported leader of a gang in Veracruz that is tied to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, considered the most powerful criminal organization in Mexico.
In the past, state and federal had named in investigations that were centered around drug trafficking, murders and kidnappings in Tierra Blanca.
In 2016, Navarrete and two other men, including his son, were investigated for organized crime and connected to the January 2016 disappearance of five students, who were arrested by four Tierra Blanca cops, who allegedly turned them over to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
Susana Tapia; Bernardo BenÃtez; José BenÃtez; José Alfredo González; and Mario Arturo Orozco were reportedly tortured and murdered at a ranch owned by Navarrete.
All were residents from the Veracruz city of Playa Vicente, who were returning from a weekend birthday trip in Boca del RÃo.
Tapia, the youngest in the group, was just 16-year-old.
The remains of two of the students were eventually located at a separate ranch in the Tlalixcoyan municipality.
However, Navarrete were released from prison in August 2019 after a court found that Mexico's Attorney General had committed errors during their investigation.
At least eight members of the Tierra Blanca police remain in custody.
La Calle band member José Alberto Muñiz was wounded in an attack that killed two band members
Concert attendee Yuridia Figueroa was one of two people who suffered gun shots wounds Friday night in Veracruz, Mexico
José BenÃtez; Bernardo BenÃtez; Susana Tapia; Mario Arturo Orozco; and José Alfredo González were disappeared January 2016 after they were reportedly arrested by the police in Veracruz, Mexico and turned over to members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, who tortured and executed them
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