At least two dead during attack on Mexico City police chief, official injured but ‘out of danger’

At least two people have been killed in a shooting attack in an area of the Mexican capital housing many diplomatic residences. The assault had targeted the city’s top security official.

Heavy gunfire has been heard in the Lomas de Chapultepec area – one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the west of the capital. The target was the city’s public security chief, Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed in a tweet.

The security official, Omar García Harfuch, has been injured and is now being treated in hospital, she said, adding that his life is “out of danger.” The mayor also confirmed that there were “deaths” and arrests following the incident, but did not go into any more detail.

Photos shared on social media by local journalist Carlos Hidalgo supposedly show Harfuch’s vehicle riddled with bullets after the attack.

Later, Harfuch said on Twitter that he was attacked by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel – a notorious criminal group led by one of Mexico’s most wanted druglords. He also confirmed that two of his colleagues lost their lives in the attack. The police chief himself received three gunshot wounds and several fragmentation injuries.

Harfuch is said to have been heading to a regular security meeting with Sheinbaum when he was ambushed. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador linked the attack to the law enforcement efforts to establish law and order in the city.

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