The State Attorney General's Office (FGE) of Michoacán reported that Víctor Manuel 'N', a 17-year-old, the material author of the murder of Mayor Carlos Manzo, was killed with his own weapon by one of the mayor's bodyguards while he was subdued. The initial hearing, which lasted from 5:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday at the High Security Center for High-Impact Crime No. 1 in the municipality of Charo, concluded with the imposition of a formal preventive prison order for the eight accused. The seven bodyguards—six men and one woman, as well as 'El Licenciado'—are accused of qualified homicide (in the case of the police, under the modality of commission by omission). According to the Prosecutor's Office, the bodyguard identified as Demetrio 'N' shot the minor in the nape of the neck when he was already subdued and handcuffed, using the same pistol with which the young man had attacked the mayor less than 13 seconds earlier. The expert report revealed that the shot was fired from a distance of 10 centimeters. In reading his statement, the bodyguard stated that he struggled with the teenager to disarm him and that because he was 'very strong' he decided to fire the weapon. He assured that his intention was to neutralize the young man and that he told him 'don't move.' He stated that he thought he had shot him in the arm because 'everything was fast' and that there were no colleagues nearby at the time of the action. The Prosecutor's Office presented the testimony of a paramedic who attended to Víctor Manuel 'N' and recounted that the bodyguards prevented him from approaching. 'Leave him,' one of them would have said, so he could only intervene upon the arrival of the National Guard, when the young man was already dead. The newspaper Reforma reported that at the time of the attack, Demetrio 'N' was serving as Director of the Municipal Police, a position from which he was in charge of the mayor's security detail. The hearing included the presentation of expert, documentary, and video recordings, as well as the interception of virtual conversations between the attacker and two alleged accomplices. The reconstruction of the facts of Manzo's homicide was also presented, who received six shots in a span of 1.5 seconds: the first in the elbow, which also injured a civilian identified as Félix, who had just asked for a photograph; the second in the left shoulder; the third in the back; the fourth in the left side; the fifth in the lower back, which perforated the thorax and was fatal; and a last impact in the right elbow when he was already on the floor. Jorge Armando 'N', alias 'El Licenciado', who is confined at the Federal Social Rehabilitation Center (CEFERESO) No. 1 'El Altiplano' in Almoloya, State of Mexico, participated in the hearing virtually. He is accused of having coordinated the criminal cell that acted to assassinate the mayor during the night of November 1 in the main square of Uruapan, while he was leading the Day of the Dead celebrations. The Prosecutor's Office also indicated that the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) would have offered a payment of two million pesos for the homicide and that people close to the mayor were leaking information about his movements to the criminal group. After the hearing, the defense requested a duplication of the constitutional term, so the decision on his linkage to process will be defined next Wednesday. The seven bodyguards, who were detained last Friday in Uruapan, will remain in the Mil Cumbres prison, Michoacán, while 'El Licenciado' will continue in the 'El Altiplano' prison. One of Manzo's bodyguards remains a fugitive from justice, confirmed on Saturday the governor of Michoacán, Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla.
