Bloody Monday death toll reaches 15 in Juárez violence

By Daniel Borunda / El Paso Times

Article Launched: 08/13/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT

Related: Find more on the violence in Juárez.

EL PASO -- A narco-message was left by the body of a man killed in Juárez on Monday, which finished with a death toll of 15, making it one of the bloodiest days this year.

The note was next to Jose Luis Trujillo Ramirez, 24, who was found shot to death soon after 10:30 p.m. Monday near Eje Vial Juan Gabriel, Chihuahua state investigators said Tuesday.

"This is for those that continue not to believe, El flaco, El negro gordo and those who continue," stated the note, apparently referring to nicknames of unidentified men.

Notes with threats and taunts left on corpses are a trend believed to be linked to a drug cartel war behind many of the more than 750 homicides in Juárez this year.

The Monday killings included two quadruple-homicides. About 5 p.m., four males, ages 16 to 38, were killed when more than 40 shots were fired on the streets of colonia Independencia II.

About two hours later, a 14-year-old boy survived when four men were shot in a home in colonia Morelos II.

In another case, police detained four men suspected of pulling a man off a bus and beating him to death.

The rest of the victims Monday were shot to death.

In Chihuahua City, assassins gunned down Pedro Aragonez, the forensic science director of the Chihuahua attorney general's office.