2 San Diego teenagers among trio shot to death in Tijuana

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Authorities were searching Friday for whoever killed two San Diego teenagers and a Mexican youth at an apartment complex in Tijuana last weekend.

The San Diego victims were 17-year-old Christopher Alexis Gomez and 18-year-old Juan Suarez-Ojeda, the Union-Tribune newspaper reported. The Mexican youth was 17-year-old Angel Said Robles.

Relatives said the trio headed to a barbecue Nov. 23 in Ensenada, south of Tijuana, and were supposed to return that night. They were found shot Sunday outside a Tijuana apartment complex.

Jorge Alvarez, head of the Baja California Attorney General's Office in Tijuana, said Thursday that preliminary information indicated the San Diego residents were familiar with the neighborhood where they were killed, the newspaper reported.

That was disputed by a relative of Gomez. Katheryn Garcia said her cousin had never been to Tijuana or Ensenada.

A Tijuana police detective told Gomez's family the three teens were tortured before they were shot Sunday, Garcia said.

There was no initial indication of what might have led to the brutal killings.

"We're all in disbelief that this happened," Garcia said through tears in a phone interview with the Union-Tribune.

The incident happened in Lomas Verdes, a high-crime area in central Tijuana with high rates of homicide, neighborhood drug dealing and domestic violence, the newspaper said.

The semi-clothed bodies of the three victims were found early in the morning in a complex of apartments. The bodies were found outside one of the buildings, and initial police reports stated they had been shot in the head.

Mexican officials said they are collaborating with U.S. authorities on the investigation.

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Information from: The San Diego Union-Tribune, http://www.utsandiego.com