Five medical school students are shot in the head and killed in Mexico

by · Mail Online

Five medical school students were found shot to death inside an abandoned vehicle in the north-central Mexican state of Guanajuato.

The students were located by the National Guard on a rural road on the outskirts of the municipality of Celaya Sunday night.

They were identified as José Freire; Bryan Amoles; Jesús Orozco and Fabián Orozco, who are brothers; and their cousin, Pedro Mateos.

The students' bodies showed signs of violence and were shot in the head, local media outlets reported.

The Latina University of Mexico confirmed in a statement that the victims attended the school. At three of the students were set to graduate. Classes at the university, located in Celaya, were postponed Monday.

In a separate incident, a sixth student was found dead Monday night. The victim's name and gender have not been released.

Five medical students were found shot in the head and their bodies were left in an abandoned car in Mexico 
José Freire, who was studying to become a pediatrician, was killed along with five over medical school students in the central Mexico city of Celaya, which has been plagued by cartel violence
Pedro Mateos (left) and his cousin Jesús Orozco (right) were among the five university students who were found dead in a vehicle in Celaya, Mexico on Sunday
 Fabián Orozco (left) and Bryan Amoles (right) were two of the victims found dead in the car

'The Latina University of Mexico deeply regrets the events and strongly condemns the violence that is exercised against everyone, particularly against our children and young people,' the school said.

The victims were last heard from around 2pm Sunday when one of the students notified their family that were returning to Celaya after traveling for a weekend party in the nearby state of Queretaró.

Police received a 911 call at 6:30pm about bodies abandoned in a car on a road next to the University of Guanajuato's Celaya Campus.

Investigators with the Guanajuato State Attorney General's Office analyzed cellphone records, which showed that the students near the towns of La Cruz and Santa Rosa de Lima, Milenio news outlet reported.

It's unknown if the students were murdered at the scene where they were abandoned.

The mother of Jesús Orozco and Fabián Orozco is the former director the National System for Integral Family Development's center in Celaya. Jesús Orozco was studying to be a surgeon and his brother was just starting school.

It's unknown if the students were murdered at the scene where they were abandoned 

Mateos specialized in pediatrics and Amoles was studying to be a surgeon. Freire was concentrating on becoming a pediatrician.

Located northwest of the capital Mexico City, Celaya for years has been plagued by violence fueled by rival drug cartels.

In June, a drug cartel set off a car bomb in Celaya aimed at law enforcement, killing a National Guard officer.

In that case, National Guard officers were reportedly responding to information about a car parked with what appeared to be bodies inside. As they approached, the vehicle exploded, sending officers flying.

Authorities blamed the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel, which for years has fought a bloody turf war with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel cartel for control of Guanajuato.