Mexican Attorney Gunned Down In Texas, Possible Informant With Cartel Ties
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}PARK CITY, KS - FEBUARY 26: Police tape hangs across the street in front of the house that Dennis Rader lives in February 26, 2005 in Park City, Kansas. Rader is the suspect whom police have arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder in connection with the 10 deaths now tied to the serial killer known as BTK. (Photo by Larry W. Smith/Getty Images) (2004 Getty Images)
A Mexican attorney who was gunned down in the middle of an affluent suburban Texas neighborhood reportedly had ties to a Mexican drug cartel and was an informant for the U.S. government.
NBC 5, a Dallas-Ft.Worth TV affiliate, is reporting that Juan Guerrero Chapa, 43, was involved with the Department of Homeland Security Investigations, secretly providing inside information on cartel operations.
HSI is part of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}According to the Fort Worth Star Telegram and police information, Guerrero was murdered in the Southlake town square as his wife loaded groceries in the back of their SUV.
Guerrero was sitting in the passenger seat.
Surveillance cameras caught images of a gunman just before 7 pm May 22leaving a white Toyota Sequoia, his face partly covered, approaching Guerrero and firing at least nine times with what is believed to be a 9 mm handgun.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Guerrero was struck in the upper body and pronounced dead a short time later at Baylor Regional Medical Center at Grapevine.
His wife was not hit in the attack.
According to NBC 5, Guerrero has lived in the U.S. for the past two years with his wife and three teenage sons.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“This was done by an organization with a specific target,” Southlake Police Chief Stephen Mylett told reporters, according to the Telegram. “There is no continual threat here.”
A press release says Southlake police could not confirm media reports that Guerrero was an attorney with ties to Mexican criminal organizations and had provided information to federal authorities.
Guerrero was legally in the U.S. and had a private business in Mexico.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}According to the Telegram he practiced law in South Texas.
A Mexico City-based newsmagazine Proceso has described Guerrero as an alleged 'narcoabogado' ('narcolawyer') who is believed to have participated in the “legal defense of members of the Gulf Cartel.”
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