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Friday, November 30, 2018

2 American Teens and Mexican Friend Tortured and Executed in TJ

Yaqui for Borderland Beat from: LA Times


Christopher Alexis Gomez, 17, and Juan Suarez-Ojeda, were reportedly killed execution-style in Mexico. (GoFundMe)

Thanks to Wilkie for Sending this in ! By: Alex Riggins, San Diego Union Tribune

Two California teens and their Mexican friend were reportedly tortured, stripped to their underwear and killed execution-style early Sunday at an apartment complex in Mexico -- and authorities have no idea why.

Two San Diego teenagers and their Tijuana friend who set out for Ensenada for a Friday barbecue were shot and killed execution-style early Sunday at a Tijuana apartment complex, according to family members, school officials and Mexican media reports.

The victims were Christopher Alexis Gomez, 17, a football player in his senior year at O’Farrell Charter High School in Encanto; Juan Suarez-Ojeda, who graduated from Ingenuity Charter School in Encanto earlier this year; and an 18-year-old Tijuana man whose name was not available, according to Gomez’s cousin Katheryn Garcia.

The trio had gone together to a party in Ensenada on Friday and were supposed to return that same night.
A Tijuana police detective told Gomez’s family that the three teens were tortured before they were shot Sunday, Garcia said.

There was no initial indication of what might have led to the brutal killings.

O'Farrell Charter School staff set up a GoFundMe account for the families of Juan Suarez-Ojeda, left, and Christopher Alexis Gomez. 

Suarez-Ojeda graduated this year from the O'Farrell-connected Ingenuity Charter School. Gomez was a senior at O'Farrell Charter High. (O'Farrell Charter School)

According to Tijuana media reports, gunfire erupted around 5 a.m. Sunday at the Lomas Verdes housing complex in south-central Tijuana. When police arrived, they found three young men dressed only in their underwear lying dead in front of an apartment door.

An initial investigation suggested a group of armed men had forcibly moved the three teens at gunpoint, made them kneel and shot them each in the head, according to Tijuana news site Punto Norte.

Gomez’s cousin described the 17-year-old as “an innocent boy” who was the “sweetest, most selfless person.” He recently got his first job cleaning cars at a parking lot near the San Diego International Airport and planned to graduate from O’Farrell Charter next year before joining the Marines, Garcia said.

“We’re all in disbelief that this happened,” Garcia said through tears in a phone interview Wednesday night. “This was his first time going over to Tijuana or Ensenada.”

Gomez was born and raised in San Diego and was not well-traveled, his cousin said, adding that he’d been to Mexico only once before, when their families traveled together in 2016 to visit other family members in Morelia, the capital of the central state of Michoacan.

According to his family, Gomez had headed out Friday with Suarez-Ojeda, who was dating Gomez’s sister. Joined by the Tijuana teen, the trio apparently made it to the barbecue in Ensenada, according to those who were there. But the San Diego teens did not make it back to the U.S. that night as expected.

The Tijuana teen reportedly called his mother early Saturday and told her they were safe but had lost their cellphones, Garcia said. That was the last anyone heard from the group.

Family members contacted Baja California authorities and frantically searched for the missing teenagers over the weekend, Garcia said. On Sunday night, Tijuana police told them about the three bodies found outside the Lomas Verdes apartment.

“We were still holding out hope it wasn’t them,” Garcia said.

But Gomez’s uncle went to a Tijuana morgue Monday and confirmed his nephew’s identity.

Later that afternoon, news reached O’Farrell Charter School about the gruesome slayings.

“It’s been pretty devastating for students and staff,” Superintendent Jonathan Dean said Wednesday night. “It’s a tough situation.”

Suarez-Ojeda and Gomez both began attending O’Farrell Charter Schools in the same year, when Suarez-Ojeda was in 7th grade and Gomez was in 6th grade. Four of Suarez-Ojeda’s siblings and Gomez’s younger brother still attend the schools.

Dean and his staff made social workers and counselors available Wednesday. The high school’s senior class of about 135 students was planning to create a memorial Thursday.

The superintendent described Gomez as a “really nice, good kid” who was a leader this year during the football team’s inaugural season.

“He was so hard working, always helping his parents out,” Garcia said of her cousin, who she described as being more of a little brother. “Nobody had a bad thing to say about him, he was just so goofy, happy and always smiling.

“I know how this story sounds, like something that people hear on the news: You go to Tijuana and this happens,” Garcia said. “But he was the most selfless, kindest boy ever … This shouldn’t have happened to him.”

Faculty at O’Farrell set up a GoFundMe site for both San Diego families, and Garcia also set up a separate GoFundMe to help her cousin’s family, who she said was struggling financially even just to bring his body back to San Diego.

54 comments:

  1. Kid on the right looks like a trouble maker

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    1. ? Really why cause he’s brown? Because I see a fat kid. No trouble indicators at all.

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    2. how can you even say that? smh

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    3. 10:17. That’s a messed up thing to say. Who are you god - can telll who should be killed and who shouldn’t?

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    4. This is the new societal standard. The victim always gets more scrutiny than the purps. Lately in America it seems, if you're a victim, you must prove it...if you're of Color, or female, you automatically must've provoked the attack. Like Chivis said SMH....So sad.

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    5. Put the pipe down 10:17 u took a profiling class or sumthing

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    6. Hey they are american how come the media doesnt do something about it?

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    7. I agree. Why do Americans always go after the victims especially when they belong to a minority group?

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    8. This is so sad. I go to TJ sometimes, but I'm cautious at 40 years old. These poor kids somehow encountered the wrong people. There are multiple areas of TJ I will not go. They are too dangerous. They were confused for rivals I would guess. I'm white, so that probably wouldn't happen to me, but these poor sweet kids were the wrong color in that particular situation. I'm sick to think they were tortured, not having a single answer their captors wanted. Monsters need to be dealt with.

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  2. Sure no reason! Slinging drugs!

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    1. Yep. Knew some white Americans who will go to tijuana or sonora to buy their dope without middlemen.

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  3. They were probably killed for "Fun". I can't imagine what this is like for his family. Poor kid.

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    1. Yeah that's what I was thinking, or something small like looked at somebody the "wrong" way. Damn, reading this was a shitty way to start my day. Hella sad!

      Phelpso

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    2. They got family in michoacan may be kids were talkin too much

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  4. I love how they urge for the US to give them the opportunities to stay in the states, but the "gringos" can't go to Mexico or else shit like this will occur. Build that fucking wall, pinche bola de salvajes.

    ~F3

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  5. Such a tragedy.
    This has to stop.
    Nonsense and stupidity is what drives these individuals to kill.

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  6. “This was his first time going over to Tijuana or Ensenada.”

    That's all it takes. RIP

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  7. That apartment complex is a known area to buy drugs .

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    1. My heart goes out to those kids and their family but why were those 3 kids located at one of the most notorious hoods in TJ. That area is drug turf. We’re they kidnapped and taken to that apartment complex against their will? With all due respect... I live in TJ and an execution of 3 kids like this doesn’t usually happen for no reason. Someone wanted those kids dead for a reason. And the authorities in Mexico probably already know who did it or who ordered the killing, but they just don’t care. The authorities think shit like this is funny in TJ. They are the real criminals. Trust me.

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    2. All of Tijuana is known for drugs....

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  8. There are many sadistic Narcos who torture and kill just for the enjoyment they get out of it. These kids probably stood out as being particularly vulnerable and were picked up by some psychopaths. Mexico will never be safe unless it elects someone like Duterte or Bolsonaro who purges the country of its filth.

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    Replies
    1. aint Lopez Obrador suppossed to do that?

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    2. Then Mexico will never be safe, will it? Because that's never going to happen.

      The solution is to end the War On Drugs.

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    3. Amlo is a leftist duterte's is a hardcore right winger who is said to personally kill drug traffickers. Amlo said no more extraditing for traffickers. Lmao he ain't going to purge shit but the feria

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    4. Amlo is already being accused of being in the pockets of narcos. Him turning a blind eye to the violence isnt going to help anything.

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  9. I know teens do stupid things that parents have no control of but if the kid who was on his first trip to TJ, if his parents knew he was going, for fuck sakes, it’s the most dangerous city in the world right now. Especially for teens I imagine.

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    1. Not the most dangerous but definitely one of the most dangerous. 100 murders per 100.000 inhabitants, i mean, how can people even think that it was a good idea for two teenagers to go there? I’m very sorry but Christ, what were their parents thinking?

      El Cabrón De Tamaulipas

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  10. More then likely the estatales or one of the police agencies killed them . They have been doing this in all of mexico.
    they didn’t want the kids telling what they saw, so they were tortured in some other place by them. Probably stole money from them, kids might of recorded them or something went wrong

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  11. Killed, and they don't know why? They went to Mexico, that's why.

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  12. Right about now, TJ is among the last places teenagers should be going without adult supervision.

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  13. Tijuana for the weekend is a bad idea more so for a pair of American teens

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  14. remember lots of gangs members from ms 13 enter to mexico with the caravan

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  15. They were in a neighborhood that probably had drug beefs going on and these guys were thought to be sicarios from another gang. Dispite all there pleading and crying, there is no mercy in TJ. They were executed with extreme prejudice. Murder is just a way of life and when you are down there you got to tread smartly.

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  16. Lots of SD teens have been murdered down there in the past decade. They are to naive to realize how dangerous the border is. Its not like it was back in the 80s and 90s when AFO had control of the crime

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    1. The border is actually not that dangerous. But going into certain neighborhoods in Tijuana can be a death sentence. Being apart of a drug deal or money deal or hanging out with people associated with that shit can also be a death sentence. I’m sorry dude but it’s sketchy that these kids were at that apartment complex in that neighborhood. Something went very wrong that night. This wasn’t just some random drive by shooting. Someone gave the green light that night to have them executed. For all we know the cops down there killed them.

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  17. The usa shld put sanctions against mexico close the border to any mexican business stop any help and ask all americans businesses to not put any factories in mexico until a goverment that is competent is in place across the border. I dont have anything aganst the decent mexican folks. Just their goverment and this criminals that are killing innocent ppl.

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    1. If the US did what you suggested "close the border" it would cause even more crime and murders. People would lose jobs and will do anything to feed their families, what do you think they would do? Would they give up and starve or would they resort to narcos to support them? That increases crime.

      Then when the Americans go to Mexico, is it only closed for people coming in that aren't american but you can cross into Mexico freely? Then no Mexicans allowed back? Lol.

      Knee jerk reactions are always the worst choices because they only work for a very specific problem but opens up a thousand other problems because of it. We need to think before we say ridiculous things like "close the border" Poverty is the main issue when it comes to crime and gangs.

      Eh

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    2. AMÉN!!!!!!!! You are 100% correct, I wish american authorities could go down there and clean up the mess that the Mexican government is allowing and supporting.

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    3. No, the USG should end the War On Drugs immediately.

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  18. I think it was a case of mistaken identity. these were good kids. the two from san diego attended and one graduated from the top rated school in san diego played sports etc.

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    1. Chivis I respect you like no other. You are super appreciated for everything you post and the research and time you put into this website. But honestly... you really think this was mistaken identity ? 3 little kids... 2 of them looking like little innocent school boys who barely started puberty. Who would mistake these kids for people who deserved to be executed like this. I honestly think that one of these kids made a huge mistake while down in Ensenada or TJ and someone ordered them dead. These kids don’t look like people who could of had their identity easily mistaken like this. They look young and naive. Innocent. Helpless. Something specific had to of happened for them to be executed in this form. Why/how did they end up at those drug infested notorious apartments in the hood? Just my 2 cents. Mucho respect Chivis.

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    2. Maybe a small time drug purchase gone wrong. Maybe someone rolled up and shot the dealer and the buyers. Just my guess.

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    3. thank you but i was offering a broad base scenario based on living in a hot area for years. when you have school leaders, teachers, principals sadden and speaking out for the kids that means something. the school , which is a charter school, not an expensive private school that wealthy mexicans put their kids into, the school has two go fund me for burial expenses. I saw the cheerleaders, teachers and students speaking about the kids and saying they were good kids, that means something to mean, that counts. not what the pendejo who says "the kid on the right looks bad"...WTF?!! i offered an opinion not a conclusion.

      bottom line The backbone of United States is the presumption of innocence. when my brother was murdered the defense tried to disrespect my brothers like he deserved it or something, that devastated my mother in a way she never could recover from.

      Maybe the kids here are innocent, maybe they did something wrong...I don't know but based on what I did find out about them I am giving them the presumption of innocence. I saw the death foto. they did not look tortured to me. executed. looks like they were in an commercial building not an apt and they were clothed. not stripped down. two were wearing red shirts and one wearing a black shirt. i could see the two from SD but the other in the foto only his waist area down showed. so the details in this report may be off. that is only important because of the torture, that usually is interrogation or settling of scores.

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    4. Thank you for this info Chivis. I now look at it a little different after reading your comment. I do see what you mean about the presumption of innocence. I must admit it’s pretty strange and disturbing how people blame the victims more than the perpetrators these days. Seems reversed. Makes me embarrassed to live in a society of people who are that confused.

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    5. I was a juror on a criminal trail. during voir dire a bank president, a female, was asked if she had any thoughts to his innocence or guilt. she actually said "he is guilty" they asked why she thought that...

      She said "because he was arrested".......she was excused

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    6. Dang that gave me chills @1:29pm

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  19. I’m from SD and heard about this story. Not sure what the hell they were doing going to Ensenada if they never really frequented La Baja Norte. What really threw me off was that from what I’ve heard from fam in Tijuas they were found at a pad in a colonia Presidentes in Tijuana. Not sure what the hell happened there but something sketchy. Who was their friend from TJ is the real story, that would help shed a lot of light to questions. Could be mistaken identities or just got caught hanging out with the wrong crowd in Ensenada. Quien sabe?

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  20. Rule #1 and the only one, of visiting Mexico, Stay in the Tourist Sections were there's lots of people around you 100% of the time, don't even walk through an alley.

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  21. Moral of the story: Don't go to Mexico!

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    1. Yeah just stay in your house and never leave,hide! Or dont go to bars or another public place in usa and wait till a stupid ass comes shooting up the place,fuck outta here

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    2. “Yeah just stay in your house and never leave,hide!”

      There is a difference between staying locked in your house and not visiting dangerous places. If you can’t see it, it’s your limit.

      As for the shootings, Hell, i’m mexican and i live in Mexico, but pretending that the USA are just and dangerous if not more dangerous than Mexico because some nutcase shoots up a place is extremely stupid. The statistics speak for themselves, 30.000 murders in 2017 compared to the 11.000 of the Usa, with a third of the population. Come on. And if you look at Europe the comparison is even more striking, with most of those countries having a murder rate of 1 per 100.000 and sometimes even lower than that.

      El Cabrón De Tamaulipas

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    3. Chema i see you dont like what 12:23 said but your anger is misdirected..There is No place on earth where you cant be myrdered but there are places where it happens more often and for some of the most fucked up reasons and Mexico happens to be one of them

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