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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | November 2006 
Toll Rises to 5 in Mexico Prison Siege
 Theresa Braine - Associated Press
| | Mexican soldiers stand guard in front of the Mil Cumbres prison near Morelia, Mexico, Saturday, Nov. 18, 2006. At least three of 10 lawyers being held hostage by inmates were killed Saturday after police raided the prison in central Mexico to rescue them, Mexican media reported. (AP/Alberto Torres) |
A public defender died of his injuries Sunday after being shot by inmates who took a group of lawyers hostage near the central Mexican city of Morelia, bringing the death toll in the incident to five, authorities said.
Ulises Montanez, 28, was shot in Saturday's standoff. Three other lawyers and an inmate also died in the hostage-taking and subsequent police raid.
Prison Director Rogelio Garcia said officials were investigating Sunday how the inmates obtained .357-caliber Magnum handguns at the Mil Cumbres prison, which holds 2,000 prisoners.
On Friday, four inmates took a total of 14 public defenders and a guard hostage after the lawyers informed them that they had lost a court appeal and would have to serve 40 years in jail on kidnapping charges, Garcia said. They later released the guard and six lawyers.
While still holding eight lawyers hostage, the inmates used the guard's radio to demand an armored car with a full tank of gas to escape, Garcia said. After 30 hours, he said the inmates grew desperate and shot three of the lawyers.
Federal and state police who raided the prison when the gunshots rang out found the three lawyers and an inmate dead, Garcia said. Three others were wounded, including Montanez, who died at a hospital Sunday. Two were uninjured.
The families of two lawyers who had worked together held a joint service Sunday.
"It's so unfair because they were there to serve those who killed them," said Marcela Garcia, 46, the wife of Jose Antonio Fernandez, 51. |
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