Teen Daughter of Slain Photojournalist Finds His Body After He Was Shot Dead Leaving His Mexico Home
News photographer Margarito Martínez Esquivel was the second journalist killed in Mexico this month.
After reporter and photographer Margarito Martínez Esquivel, who covered crime and violence, was shot dead in front of his home in Tijuana, Mexico, on Monday, it was his 16-year-old daughter who found the body, his wife, Elena Martínez, said. The teen had heard three gunshots and found her father’s body by his car, outside of their home in the Camino Verde neighborhood, she said.
“Unfortunately, I couldn’t do anything for him,” Martínez told the San Diego Union-Tribune.
The 49-year-old photojournalist, who worked for local news outlet Cadena Noticias as well as international outlets like The Washington Post, the San Diego Union-Tribune and the BBC, had been leaving his home Monday for work when he was shot three times.
“He was coming out of his house when they opened fire on him,” his colleague Antonio Maya said, according to the Associated Press.
His assailant has not yet been identified or arrested, and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he will reveal more details surrounding the motive behind the killing later this week, according to Cadena Noticias.
He is the second journalist to be killed in Mexico this month.
José Luis Gamboa, director of online news publication Inforegio, was stabbed multiple times in the eastern state of Veracruz before dying in the hospital last Monday, according to press group Reporters Without Boarders, as reported by the AP.
The killing appeared to be a robbery gone wrong, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
His family was not informed of his death until days later, on Friday, according to Reporters Without Boarders.
Gamboa reported on cartels and drug trafficking, and often scrutinized Mexican politicians for their links to organized crime, Mexico News Daily reported. His murder is being investigated in relation to his journalism, according to the outlet.
Mexico is considered the most dangerous country in the world for journalists, according to Reporters Without Borders, with at least seven journalists murdered in 2021, and at least 47 journalists killed between 2016 and 2021.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 134 reporters have been killed in Mexico since 1992.