Singer shot at during robbery in Mexican city

Ciudad Juarez (Mexico) Feb 23 (IANS/EFE) A member of popular musical band Caballo Dorado was shot by several men who robbed him in Ciudad Juarez city of Mexico, police said.

Eduardo Gameros was wounded Monday when at least four armed men held up the group’s six members, stole their wallets, watches and other items.

Lead singer Gameros resisted and was shot in the leg, investigators said, adding that the musician was taken to a clinic for treatment.

The armed robbery occurred in the southern section of Ciudad Juarez, which is across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas, when the band’s members stopped for refreshments before performing at a concert scheduled for Monday afternoon, the Chihuahua state Attorney General’s Office said.

The musicians were travelling from their hometown of Chihuahua city, the state capital, to Ciudad Juarez for a series of concerts.

Caballo Dorado became popular in Mexico and the US for the covers of country songs like “El Diablo bajo a Georgia” (The Devil Went Down to Georgia) and “No Rompas Mi Corazon” (Achy Breaky Heart).

Ciudad Juarez, where over 7,000 people have been murdered since 2008, is considered Mexico’s most dangerous city.

Over 3,100 people were murdered in the border city last year, making 2010 the worst year since a war between rival drug gangs sent the homicide rate skyrocketing in 2008.

Juarez first gained notoriety in the early 1990s when young women began to disappear in the area. Over 500 women have been killed in Juarez since 1993, with the majority of the cases going unsolved.

–IANS/EFE