MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s acting federal police chief was shot dead early Thursday outside his home — a brazen attack as drug traffickers increasingly lash back at a nationwide crackdown on organized crime.
Edgar Millan Gomez was shot 10 times after opening the door to his Mexico City apartment complex, where at least one gunman was waiting for him before dawn, the Public Safety Department said. Two bodyguards were also wounded. Millan died hours later at a hospital.
President Felipe Calderon’s government said Millan had played a vital role in the country’s fight against organized crime and denounced “this cowardly killing of an exemplary official.”
Millan, 41, was named acting chief of the federal police March 1 after his superior was promoted.
Mexico has suffered a wave of organized crime and drug-related violence, in which more than 2,500 people died last year alone.
