The real estate businessman José Felipe Tomé Velázquez, business associate to the Bribiesca brothers, children of the former first lady, Martha Sahagún, wife of President Vicente Fox, was kidnapped by a command early Sunday morning in Puerto Vallarta; during the events, one of his associates was assassinated.
Preliminary reports indicate that after dining out at a restaurant in the Fluvial Vallarta subdivision, the businessman and four other people were heading to his residence in Nuevo Vallarta when, around 02:00 a.m., they were intercepted by several armed subjects, at the junction of Las Juntas.
The armed subjects began to shoot at the armored white Suburban in which Tomé was traveling and after the shooting, they removed one of the occupants from the vehicle and murdered him, and then took the businessman by force.
Two women were also traveling in the truck, one of whom had minor injuries, and another man who also sustained some injuries; more than 70 shots were fired.
Tomé Velázquez, originally from Guanajuato, is known in Jalisco for making controversial real estate developments that, although they are classified as irregular by some municipal authorities, they have been allowed to be completed with corruption by city officials.
The prosecutor Gerardo Octavio Solís Gómez, reported that it was a direct attack on the truck in which the businessman was traveling, he ruled out that it was a kidnapping to ask for a ransom.
He explained that the event could be linked to real estate developments promoted by the victim, which are facing legal proceedings. He explained that they had knowledge that the affected party had disputes in Querétaro, Guerrero, and Quintana Roo; Therefore, they will request support from the authorities of those States. They will also require the collaboration of Nayarit authorities since it is believed that the vehicle in which the businessman was transferred traveled to Nuevo Vallarta.
The prosecutor commented that another line of investigation is the dispute over land in the Puerto Vallarta marina.
“There is a disputed area in the city of Puerto Vallarta that could form part of the theories of the case, as well as those that are going to seek the collaboration of other States,” he said.
