(USNewsBreak.com) – A drug cartel kidnapped 43 male students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teacher’s College in September 2014 in what became known as one of the most shocking events to happen in Mexico. There was very little to go on, and multiple allegations swirled that corrupt police officers, colluding with local gangs, had taken the men captive. Investigators later determined that all 43 died, and cartels destroyed their remains. In March, police killed a 23-year-old student from the same school in a shootout, just days after people from the school broke the wooden doors of the National Palace in protest of the killings of the 43 students. One of the officers allegedly involved went on the run. Authorities have since arrested him.
Per Mexico News Daily, authorities had originally arrested three police officers in connection with Yanqui Khotan Gómez Peralta’s (Gomez) death on March 7. However, just a few days later, one escaped prison, with the suspected help of other authorities, and remained on the run until just a few days ago.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) announced on Thursday, April 11, that authorities detained the officer who allegedly killed Gomez on a range and brought him into custody. The law enforcement involved in the incident reportedly said that the victim and another person in the truck where he died shot at officers, which AMLO later said did not happen. The president said the incident exemplified “an abuse of authority.”
Gomez’s death set off a firestorm of protests, where students from the college, already angry about the incident that happened nearly 10 years ago, set police vehicles on fire. Two officials, Security Minister Rolando Solano Rivera and Guerrero State Interior Minister Ludwig Marcial Reynoso, also resigned in the wake of Gomez’s murder.
The state is one of the most violent in the country, and the US State Department has warned Americans to avoid it due to elevated risks of kidnapping, homicide, robbery, and carjacking in the region.
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