Mexican journalist shot dead in northern state of Chihuahua

MEXICO CITY — A Mexican reporter was gunned down in the northern state of Chihuahua on Thursday, becoming the third journalist to be killed this month in one of the most dangerous countries for media workers.

The national newspaper La Jornada said Miroslava Breach, its correspondent in the state capital, also called Chihuahua, was shot eight times outside her garage in the morning and died while being taken to the hospital.

La Jornada said Breach, 54, was accompanied in the car by one of her three children at the time of the attack.

“Presumably there was at least one attacker who approached on foot when the La Jornada correspondent was taking her son to school and fired a .38-caliber revolver,” it said. “Eight shells were found lying in the street.”

According to La Jornada, Breach had worked for the paper for more than 15 years and also for newspapers in the cities of Chihuahua and Juarez. It reported that a sign was left at the scene saying “for being a tattletale.”

In a statement, the Chihuahua state prosecutor’s office confirmed the killing and said it was investigating.

According to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, 38 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 1992 for motives confirmed as directly related to their work. Another 50 have been slain under circumstances that have yet to be clarified.

On March 19, columnist Ricardo Monlui was shot twice as he left a restaurant with his wife and son in Yanga, near the city of Cordoba in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz.

And on March 2, Cecilio Pineda Birto, a freelancer and the founder of La Voz de Tierra Caliente, was slain at a car wash in Ciudad Altamirano, Guerrero state.

Killings of journalists who work for national outlets like La Jornada, one of Mexico’s main daily newspapers, are relatively uncommon. More often the victims are reporters for smaller, local media.

Organized crime gangs have a strong presence in Chihuahua state, which borders Texas and New Mexico.

At least two other journalists have been killed in or near Chihuahua city, most recently radio reporter Jesus Adrian Rodriguez Samaniego on Dec. 10, 2016. –Peter Orsi