German Student Wounded at Police Checkpoint in Southern Mexico

MEXICO CITY – A German citizen was wounded in a shooting at a police checkpoint in Guerrero, a state in southern Mexico, following an operation targeting kidnappers in the area, officials said Monday.

The officers who fired at the vehicle carrying the German when it refused to stop at the checkpoint were arrested and an investigation is being conducted, the Guerrero Attorney General’s Office said.

Guerrero has been in the public spotlight since Sept. 26, when six people were killed, 25 wounded and 43 others disappeared in the city of Iguala in incidents apparently involving municipal police officers and members of an organized crime group.

A special tactical team launched an operation Sunday on a highway near Chilpancingo, the capital of Guerrero, that left an officer wounded, officials said, adding that the kidnappers got away.

The officer died a short time later at a hospital, the AG’s office said.

Police set up checkpoints and ordered an SUV to stop, but the driver disobeyed the order.

“Based on the fact that a sound similar to a blast was heard immediately after that, some of the officers in question discharged their firearms, wounding one of the passengers,” the AG’s office said.

The unidentified student was treated at a private hospital and later transported to a Mexico City hospital in stable condition.

The officers involved in the shooting were arrested and their firearms seized so ballistics tests can be conducted, the AG’s office said.

Between 15 and 20 officers were involved in the incident, Guerrero Deputy Attorney General Victor Leon Maldonado said.

Investigators are taking statements from the officers to determine whether there is “criminal responsibility,” the deputy AG said.

About three or four shots were fired at the vehicle, which was carrying a group of students from Acapulco to Mexico City, Maldonado said.

Investigators are trying to determine if the officers followed the proper protocols for dealing with vehicles at checkpoints, Maldonado said.

The Monterrey Institute of Technology said in a Twitter post that the wounded student is enrolled in one of its programs and is in stable condition.