Ochoa,
27, an engineer for Grupo Multimedios Laguna, was killed by gunmen who burst
into the media group’s transmission facilities on February 9. The group stole
and destroyed equipment, and shot Ochoa as he was calling the police, said Juan
Carlos Zuñiga, a TV host with Grupo Multimedios.
Heriberto
Gallegos, manager of the nearby Radiorama Laguna, said the men also stormed his
station’s transmission facilities and damaged its equipment. He said the attack
was intended to generate panic among the public in Torreón, a large city in
north-central Mexico and a battleground for two competing crime gangs. “Both of
them want to show their power. Both of them want to show the government cannot
control them and the people must do what they say,” Gallegos said.
Zuñiga
said Grupo Multimedios Laguna had not covered organized crime out of fear of
reprisal from the cartels.