The ongoing drug wars in Tijuana, Mexico have taken an increasingly heartbreaking turn as gunmen have begun to include young children in their attacks:

In unprecedented attacks, gunmen killed a 3-year-old boy and a 9-year-old girl and seriously wounded a 12-year-old girl in the city of Tijuana on the U.S. border this week as they targeted a senior local police officer.

Even hardened residents of Tijuana, where more than 300 people were killed in drug violence last year and severed heads were dumped on city streets, were shocked by photos of young Jose Luis Ortiz’s body riddled with bullets.

“How much longer must we wait for results from the military? Now the narcos are killing our children,” said a Tijuana shop assistant who gave her name only as Fernanda.

Ortiz and his mother and father were shot dead as they slept on Monday night. Gunmen apparently mistook the boy’s father for a police officer and had no qualms about killing the 3-year-old.

Tijuana could probably use Rambo, after all. And RoboCop. And Scooby Doo. Or the Mexican military. But that would be silly.

Mexico gunmen target children in drug war [Reuters]
Earlier: Tijuana’s New Police Chief Is Like Rambo, Except He Might Get Killed