SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — Ángela Meraz León owned and operated a hair salon in the border city of Tecate about 30 miles east of Tijuana and was also an activist and the head of a citizen’s group that searched for missing people.
On Thursday afternoon, a man walked into her business and shot her at close range.
Witnesses told police the gunman shot Meraz León several times and then left in a black Audi parked outside.
The vehicle was found later a short distance away. It had been set on fire.
Those who knew her say she was threatened several weeks ago on a social media site by a cartel, accusing Meraz León of passing on misinformation about it.
Police say they have a few leads in the case and are looking into several theories surrounding the murder.
Investigators told reporters Thursday night they are not ruling out anything including “previous relationships, her known associates with organized crime and her work searching for missing people.”
They also said her ex-partner, father to her son, is in prison for murder and connections to the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación, a bitter rival of the Sinaloa cartel.
Family members say she became an activist for missing people when her brother and sister-in-law disappeared in June 2018. Their whereabouts remain a mystery.
Meraz León had publicly accused the Sinaloa cartel of their disappearance.
Other public groups who also search for missing people are demanding that Baja California’s Attorney General find the people responsible for her death.
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