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| 5 inmates shoot their way out of Baja prison |
| By San Diego Union Tribune |
| Published: 04/15/2004 |
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Mexican authorities were searching yesterday for five men who escaped from a state prison in a shootout that seriously wounded a prison officer. One escapee, Héctor Flores Esquivias, was linked to the 1998 slaughter of 19 people in a drug trafficking feud in Baja, California, authorities said. Another escapee, Luis Alberto Salazar Vega, was connected to the January 2002 kidnapping of a U.S.-born man who managed to escape and alert authorities. Two city police officers were killed while pursuing the suspects in that incident. Flores and Salazar are suspected of working for groups that have ties with the region's most powerful drug traffickers. The other escapees were identified as Luis Chávez García, Jorge Ruvalcaba Verduzco and Fausto Sánchez González, all being held for crimes such as murder and kidnapping. Details of the escape were sketchy. State authorities said two armed inmates working in the prison's clinic forced their way out about 7:45 a.m. yesterday, fleeing with three others to a car outside the prison. A shootout ensued between prison officers and people in the car, which reportedly was stolen in Chula Vista. Authorities said the wounded officer was in serious condition in a local hospital. La Mesa prison has had a reputation for lawlessness and corruption. In 2002 authorities cracked down on the community of prisoners who had built a mini-city inside, and many of the more serious offenders were sent to the modern El Hongo facility east of Tecate. State officials said some of the men were in La Mesa prison instead of El Hongo because they were going to be making court appearances soon in Tijuana. |
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