Mexico's federal police chief grilled his killer

MEXICO CITY — Mexico's federal police chief who was gunned down at his house Thursday was able to question his attacker before he died, according to an account published Friday in the daily Reforma newspaper.

President Felipe Calderón, who attended a memorial service for Edgar Millán Gómez and two other federal officers killed this week as cartels unleashed a wave of violence across Mexico, said the killing was an attempt by weakened gangs to counter his fight against drug trafficking.

Millán Gómez was shot eight times at close range as bodyguards accompanied him to his home in Mexico City shortly after midnight Thursday.

Police arrested a 34-year-old convicted auto thief, Alejandro Ramirez, who was found inside the home wearing latex gloves and armed with a handgun equipped with a silencer.

Mexican media reported Friday that authorities suspect that Millán Gómez was betrayed by someone who knew his plans and movements.

Calderón praised Millán Gómez for putting up a fight even after being shot several times.

Millán Gómez asked, "Who sent you? Who sent you to kill me?" according the Reforma report, citing accounts of two of his bodyguards.

The bodyguards forced their way inside the house, where they confronted Ramirez wielding a gun but out of ammunition, the newspaper said.

The two other officers were killed Wednesday in a shootout with suspected drug traffickers in southern Morelos state.

Since taking office in 2006, Calderón has sent more than 25,000 troops to drug hot spots. Cartels have responded with unprecedented violence, beheading police and killing soldiers.

Drug-related violence killed more than 2,500 people last year alone in Mexico.

Millán Gómez was responsible for coordinating operations between federal police and the army — many of them targeting drug trafficking. He was named acting chief March 1 after his superior was promoted to a deputy Cabinet position.

On May 1, he announced the arrest of 12 suspected hit men tied to the Sinaloa cartel.

Hours later, a federal intelligence analyst was killed in Mexico City by assailants who tried to steal his car, and a federal commander was gunned down the next day.

Police would not comment on whether the Sinaloa cartel was behind Millán Gómez's killing, but said they were investigating possible drug links.

Some people saw the latest police slayings as evidence that traffickers are feeling the sting of the government crackdown.

"We are at war," read the headline on an editorial in the El Universal newspaper.