Mexico City’s police chief was wounded early Friday as his bulletproof SUV was riddled by bullets in an alleged assassination attempt by a drug cartel.
Public Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch tweeted from a hospital bed that he was hit by three bullets and shrapnel. He blamed Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación for the attack.
The early morning attack in a residential part of the nation’s capital was brazen: Gunmen ambushed García Harfuch by blocking the road with a utility truck and then firing thousands of rounds from high-caliber rifles at his vehicle, according to multiple reports.
The shootout lasted for several minutes and claimed the lives of two police officers and at least one bystander, a 27-year-old woman who was in a nearby car with her husband and two daughters, the local daily newspaper Reforma reported.
Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said “several” suspects were detained after the attack.
Reforma reported 12 suspects were detained and in custody of the city’s anti-kidnapping unit.