11/04/10 – Two American students from the University of Texas were shot to death in Ciudad Juárez, becoming the fourth and fifth Americans to be murdered in that city in the past six days. Eder Díaz and his classmate, Manuel Acosta, were shot while traveling in their vehicle. According to the spokesperson for the University, Steve Lazarín, Acosta died the moment he was shot and Diaz died Wednesday morning while at the Juárez General Hospital. Díaz was 23 years old and Acosta was 25.
Fifteen-year-old Luis Carlos Araiza and 27-year-old Joanne Herrera were shot to death while traveling in a BMW near the Zaragoza Bridge on Saturday. Mexican authorities said both had a history of criminal activity. Also shot to death this past Saturday was 30-year-old Edgar López.
On Friday of last week, 20-year-old Lorena Izaguirre was murdered while at a tortilla store. According to El Universal, all of the victims killed this past week were from El Paso, Texas, the border city across from Ciudad Juárez. The State Department reported that in the first six months of this year 47 Americans were murdered in México, thirteen of which occurred in Ciudad Juárez. Authorities do not believe that the victims were killed because they were American and noted that many of the Americans murdered in México were in the company of Mexicans.
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