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Official: Civilians killed most of 8 dead in Mexico clash

Funerary vehicles commissioned by family members of those killed in Apatzingan a day earlier, sit parked outside the forensic morgue in Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015. According to the federal security commissioner for Michoacan state, federal troops and police engaged in clashes with armed civilians in the town of Apatzingan Tuesday, leaving nine civilians dead. But family members tell a different story, one with a higher death toll. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Funerary vehicles commissioned by family members of those killed in Apatzingan a day earlier, sit parked outside the forensic morgue in Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015. According to the federal security commissioner for Michoacan state, federal troops and police engaged in clashes with armed civilians in the town of Apatzingan Tuesday, leaving nine civilians dead. But family members tell a different story, one with a higher death toll. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell) Funerary vehicles commissioned by family members of those killed in Apatzingan a day earlier, sit parked outside the forensic morgue in Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015. According to the federal security commissioner for Michoacan state, federal troops and police engaged in clashes with armed civilians in the town of Apatzingan Tuesday, leaving nine civilians dead. But family members tell a different story, one with a higher death toll. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

By Associated Press 4 min read

MORELIA, Mexico (AP) – Most of the eight people who died last week in a confrontation with federal police were killed by other civilians, according to the federal commissioner charged with bringing order to the troubled western state of Michoacan.

Alfredo Castillo on Monday gave a third government version of what happened Jan. 6 when civilians in pickup trucks tried to stop a federal police convoy in Apatzingan, hub of the conflictive Michoacan farming region called the Tierra Caliente, or Hot Land.

First he reported last week they were killed after firing on the military, then on the federal police and finally that they were killed by their own men firing at police. He said all but two women among the dead had residue indicating they fired guns, even though witnesses said they were unarmed and came out of the trucks saying “Don’t shoot.”

Ballistics tests show that all of the eight were hit by bullets not used by the federal police, he said. Only two of the dead also had been shot by police, Castillo said, but added it was impossible to determine whether police or civilians issued the fatal wounds.

A total of nine people died that day. One was hit by a car while fleeing from federal forces seizing the city hall that was taken over by about 100 civilians protesting an increase in electricity costs, and the government requiring that they turn in their arms, according to the families of the dead.