Honduran journalist shot, killed outside his home

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras—Two gunmen on a motorcycle shot and killed a journalist outside his home in a city in northern Honduras, officials said Wednesday.

Francisco Medina, a 35-year-old television reporter, was ambushed Tuesday night in the city of Morazan, 75 miles (120 kilometers) north of Honduras’ capital, said Santos Galvez, a member of Honduras’ College of Journalists press group.

Galvez called Medina’s slaying work-related and said he had received death threats.

In his reporting, Medina was critical of the Honduran national police and of private security firms contracted by ranchers in the area, where drug traffickers operate.

Medina became the 11th journalist to be killed in the past 18 months in Honduras. Two of these murders have been solved.

A recent report by an independent advocacy group documented a significant decline in press freedom in Honduras as well as in Mexico. Honduras is a violent country with 50 homicides per 100,000 people.

“Every day Honduran journalists are in greater danger of being killed,” said Galvez.

A committee of missing persons in Honduras said Medina was followed by two men on a motorcycle after his evening show. They shot him three times in the back and once in his arm as he was about to enter his home.

Relatives of Medina called an ambulance, which took him to a hospital. He later died.

Medina’s brother, Carlos Medina, said police officers refused to escort the journalist in the ambulance.

A Morazan police spokesman told The Associated Press agents were investigating the brother’s claims.