In Celaya, a city in the north-central Mexican state of Guanajuato, five people were killed on Sunday: José Freire, Bryan Amoles, Jesús Orozco, Fabián Orozco, and Pedro Mateos.
The victims were enrolled at Mexico’s Latina University of Medicine.
The students were beaten and shot, and found inside an abandoned school.
On Sunday night, the National Guard discovered the students on a rural road outside the Celaya municipality.
José Freire, Bryan Amoles, brothers Jesús and Fabián Orozco, and Pedro Mateos, their cousin, were named among them.
Local media outlets reported that the students were shot in the head and that their bodies displayed signs of violence.
The victims’ attendance at the school was verified by the Latina University of Mexico in a statement. Three pupils were scheduled to graduate. The university, which is situated in Celaya, canceled classes on Monday.
On Monday night, a sixth student was discovered deceased in an unrelated incident. The victim’s gender and name are still unknown.
In Celaya, central Mexico, a city beset by cartel violence, José Freire, a pediatrician in training, was murdered along with five other medical students.
A car in Celaya, Mexico on Sunday contained five university students who were found dead, including Pedro Mateos (left) and his cousin Jesús Orozco (right).
Fabián Orozco
Police received a 911 call at 6:30 p.m. about bodies abandoned in a car on a road next to the University of Guanajuato’s Celaya Campus. The victims were last heard from at around 2 p.m. on Sunday when one of the students informed their family that they were returning to Celaya after traveling for a weekend party in the nearby state of Queretaró.
“The Latina University of Mexico deeply regrets the events and strongly condemns the violence that is exercised against everyone, particularly against our children and young people,” the school stated.
According to a news report by Milenio, investigators from the Guanajuato State Attorney General’s Office examined cellphone records and discovered that the students lived close to the towns of La Cruz and Santa Rosa de Lima.
If the students were murdered at the location where they were left behind, it is unknown.
The former head of the Celaya center of the National System for Integral Family Development is the mother of Jesús and Fabián Orozco. While his brother was just starting school, Jesús Orozco was pursuing his studies to become a surgeon.
It’s unclear if students were murdered at the location where they were left behind.
Mateos was a pediatrician, and Amoles was pursuing a surgical degree. Freire concentrated on pursuing a career in pediatrics.
Celaya, which lies northwest of Mexico City, has long been plagued by violence brought on by rival drug cartels.
An officer of the National Guard was killed in June when a drug cartel in Celaya detonated a car bomb intended for law enforcement.
Officers from the National Guard were allegedly responding to reports of a parked car containing what appeared to be bodies in that instance. The car exploded as they got closer, sending the officers flying.
Authorities placed the blame on the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel, which has been at war for control of Guanajuato with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel cartel for years.