Man is held in southern Mexico over journalist's killing
Last updated on: 02 October,2018 10:55 am
Gomez was the ninth journalist assassinated this year in Mexico.
Mexico (AFP) - Mexican police have arrested a suspect in the recent murder of journalist Mario Gomez, officials in the southern state of Chiapas announced Sunday.
Juan David Martinez, who is known as "El Machaca," was arrested in the Caribbean resort of Playa del Carmen in Quintana Roo state, prosecutor Raciel Lopez said in a video statement.
Gomez was the ninth journalist assassinated this year in Mexico -- one of the deadliest countries for journalists -- but the arrest of a suspect in such killings remains a relative rarity.
Witnesses said two gunmen on a motorcycle shot Gomez to death on September 21 as he was leaving his home in Yajalon in northern Chiapas.
He had covered crime and violence for the local El Heraldo de Chiapas.
Shortly after the killing, authorities launched a hunt for Martinez and a second suspect identified as Oscar Leyver Acosta, who remains at large. Police offered a reward of 300,000 pesos (about $16,000).
Lopez said Martinez was the leader of a drug gang operating in Yajalon.
Gomez reported receiving threats in 2016 after writing about alleged corruption by a federal congressman.
The man’s driver reportedly sent Gomez a message saying, "I will come for you and I will blow off your head."
The killing was captured on video.
The nonprofit group Reporters Without Borders ranks Mexico as the second most dangerous country for journalists, after Syria.
The vast majority of the killings remain unsolved.
The Committee to Protect Journalists said that at least three of those killed this year in Mexico were targeted "in direct reprisal for their work."