The cycle of violence that shook the Morelos capital almost a decade ago came to a bloody end this weekend. Óscar Antonio Gómez Sierra, alias ‘El Negro’, who murdered student Israel Hernández in 2017 at the Attico bar in Cuernavaca, was shot dead this Friday. The attack occurred at a car wash in the town of Tetela del Monte, north of the state capital, just days after he had regained his freedom. Confirmation of his identity by local authorities immediately brought back memories of a case that marked a before and after in the perception of nightlife insecurity in Cuernavaca. What happened at the Attico bar in Cuernavaca? In the early hours of September 29, 2017, violence erupted at the Attico bar, located in the exclusive Vista Hermosa neighborhood. Security cameras at the establishment captured a sequence that went viral and sparked citizen protests. The footage showed ‘El Negro’ physically assaulting a woman. Israel Hernández, a 23-year-old law student at the Autonomous University of the State of Morelos (UAEM), intervened to defend her. Gómez Sierra's response was lethal: he drew a firearm and shot the point-blank at the student. At the time of his arrest, it was confirmed that the subject was the son of a former collaborator of a nationally active criminal group, which reinforced versions of his ties to organized crime. ‘El Negro’ was released days before being killed. Despite the brutality of the video evidence and the family's outcry of Israel Hernández, the judicial process faced various stages. Not content with the shot to the chest, the aggressor kicked the inert body of Israel before leaving the place with total impunity, in the presence of security guards and customers. After the homicide, ‘El Negro’ fled Morelos, becoming one of the priority targets of state justice. Eventually, Óscar Antonio was sentenced and imprisoned in the Atlacholoaya penal facility in Morelos. He was given a sentence for qualified homicide, although legal appeals and sentence reductions for procedural benefits allowed his prison stay to be shorter than expected by public opinion. Last Friday, armed men burst into the car wash in Tetela del Monte where ‘El Negro’ was. Subsequent investigations revealed that the subject had the protection of criminal groups operating in the area, which facilitated his exit from the state. It was not until November 2017, thanks to an intelligence operation and inter-state collaboration, that he was located and arrested in San José del Cabo, Baja California Sur. Police sources confirmed that Gómez Sierra had left the correctional center in recent days after serving part of his sentence. His return to the streets was brief. Without a word, the attackers opened fire on him, leaving him dead at the scene. To date, the State Attorney General's Office (FGE) maintains several lines of investigation open, including a possible settling of accounts linked to his criminal record or the feuds generated before and during his imprisonment.
