The judge presiding over the case of the infamous drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was gunned down outside of his home in Mexico.
On Monday, Vicente Antonio Bermudez Zacarias, a federal judge in Mexico, was fatally shot in the head while jogging in front of his home in Metepec, Mexico, which is about 45 miles west of Mexico City. The motive behind the killing hasn't been confirmed yet, but Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said that the attorney general's office will lead a thorough investigation.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Vincente Antonio Bermudez Zacarias was a district court magistrate for appeals and civil judgments in Toluca, a city near where he lived in Metepec. The 37-year-old judge had presided over appeals from a handful of accused drug lords, including El Chapo, who ran the Sinaloa Cartel. In addition to several challenges from El Chapo's lawyers, the judge also handled challenges from the lawyers of Abigael Gonzalez Valencia, a leader of Los Cuinis cartel, and Miguel Trevino, a leader of the Zetas cartel who's now in jail. According to mySA.com, the judge wasn't given any protection while presiding over those cases.
In an alleged video of the assassination, the killer, wearing dark clothing, is seen running up behind the jogging judge before shooting him in the back of the head at point-blank range. The shooter then fled the scene.
El Chapo is currently in a federal prison in Cuidad Juarez, which is just across the border from El Paso, Texas. He's wanted in seven U.S. jurisdictions for a variety of charges, including murder, conspiracy to import and distribute drugs, money-laundering, and arms possession, AP has reported. If nothing changes—El Chapo has escaped from prison twice before—he'll be extradited to the United States in early 2017.
