College student gunned down in deadly Mexican border city; 7 bodies found along state highway

College student shot dead in Mexican border city

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — Gunmen killed a university student in the deadly Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Chihuahua state prosecutor’s spokesman Arturo Sandoval said the student’s body was found in a truck Tuesday at an intersection. He was the second student from the Autonomous University of Chihuahua to be killed since Saturday.

Also Wednesday, state police spokesman Luis Banuelos said the bound, bullet-riddled bodies of seven men were found along a highway elsewhere in Chihuahua.

Ciudad Juarez is Mexico’s deadliest city, with more than 2,250 killings so far this year. More than 14,000 people nationwide have died in drug violence since the federal government launched an offensive against cartels in late 2006.

Also Wednesday, a grade school in the western state of Michoacan was closed briefly due to concerns about possible drug-related violence. The Morelos Primary School in the town of Tancitaro was closed for an hour but was reopened, said Graciela Andrade, the state education secretary.

Last week, the mayor and the other seven town officials in Tancitaro resigned their posts, alleging they had been threatened by drug traffickers and none of the local police officers showed up to work.

The town of 26,000 is in a drug-plagued area and last March the top city council member, Gonzalo Paz, was kidnapped, tortured and killed. Soldiers have destroyed more than 20 meth labs so far this year in the town and several police officers have been killed by drug traffickers.