EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – The Chihuahua Attorney General has assigned a special unit to investigate the murder of a Juarez television news anchor.
Unknown assailants on Thursday night gunned down Arturo Alba Medina, 49, as he drove his car in Downtown Juarez, police said.
Alba had just concluded his nightly newscast and was apparently driving to his home in El Paso in a red Dodge Charger with Texas license plates when he was attacked. The newsman died at the scene near the intersection of Uruguay and Tepeyac streets. Police said they found 11 bullet casings on the street.
Speaking at a teleconference Friday morning, Attorney General Cesar Arturo Peniche said the Crimes Against Human Rights Defenders and Journalists unit of the state police was investigating the crime.
“We don’t know (of a motive) yet, but nothing has been ruled out. We have teams postulating hypothesis to investigate until each is ruled out,” Peniche said.
Investigators believe more than one person participated in the attack. Late Friday afternoon, the Attorney General’s Office said they don’t believe Alba had received any threats, but would be investigating if he was targeted because of his work, anyway.
Alba was the night anchor for the Telediario newscast on Juarez Multimedios channel 6.1. He also moonlighted as a press officer for the Juarez Technological Institute (ITCJ). He had one adult and one minor child.
According to Mexican news reports, Alba is the first journalist killed in the state of Chihuahua since La Jornada investigative reporter Miroslava Breach was shot to death coming out of her home in Chihuahua City on March 23, 2017. A hitman for a drug gang associated with the Sinaloa cartel was convicted of the murder and sentenced to 50 years in prison earlier this year.
(Juarez freelance photojournalist Roberto Delgado contributed to this report)