Posted on 05/10/2008 1:06:35 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
NUEVO LAREDO - A highly respected former city councilman was gunned down near his downtown office Thursday night, renewing concerns that violence may be returning to the Sister City.
Rolando Montante, an engineer and owner of a construction company that often does business with local government, was a well-known political activist with the Partido Revolucionario Institucional, or PRI. He had been mentioned as a possible candidate to head the city's waterworks system.
Montante was shot twice with a .40-caliber weapon sometime Thursday night, according to results of the autopsy. The gun believed to have been used in the killing was found about seven blocks from the crime scene inside an abandoned vehicle, according to the state attorney general's office.
At the state's Policía Ministerial office, which is charged with investigating all homicides, officers would not acknowledge Montante's death.
"We have nothing to say. Neither do we have a report," said the commander on duty. "It may seem strange to you, but that's the way it is."
A preliminary investigation indicates Montante may have been the victim of kidnapping, a source at the attorney general's office told Laredo Morning Times. Several armed men were seen watching Montante as he left his office at Donato Guerra and Mendoza near the crime scene and then hustling him into a vehicle, the source said.
Montante's death was reported at 9:30 p.m., setting off a major mobilization of law enforcement at Avenida Obregón and Arteaga. Investigators found two shell casings at the scene.
A Ford pickup with Texas license plates registered in Montante's name was found in Villas de San Miguel, a neighborhood about three miles southwest of the central business district.
"We found the former councilman's personal identification (in the truck)," said the source at the attorney general's office. "We are following several lines of investigation."
Montante was the city councilman for Place 1 under the administration of Daniel Peña Treviño, the immediate past mayor. An accomplished engineer, he served as president of the city's Public Works department from 2005–2007.
He left City Hall on Dec. 31, 2007, and returned to his construction company full-time.
Montante lived in Laredo. His body was taken across the river to Laredo for burial. Arrangements are being made by Joe Jackson North Funeral Chapel.
Funeral services are set for 8:30 a.m. Monday at San Luis Rey Catholic Church. Interment will follow at the Catholic Cemetery.
(Reach Miguel Timoshenkov at 728 2583 or timo1@lmtonline.com)
Los dos Laredos ping!
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
Fourty cal is a cop’s bullet.
This stuff used to only take place inside of the country and only spread out when the federales (sic) would come in to town.
Now all the stuffing is coming out of the pie. It is not good.
Until someone steps up on all sides and decides to do something about it. Otherwise it will only get worse.
JMO
Come on folks,
Things are slow and boring.
Let’s open the borders and return to the wild wild west.
YeHa, shoot em up.
and Mexico has strict weapon and ammunition laws too.
Hillary Clinton is in town?
RIP.
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