VIDEO: Mexican Judge Handling ‘El Chapo’ Case Assassinated

A Mexican judge expected to hand down rulings for cases on some top drug lords died at the hands of a professional assassin. The murder has sparked outrage among public officials in the country who have demanded an investigation.

The murder took place Monday, early morning in a wealthy neighborhood in Ecatepec, not far from Mexico City. Breitbart Texas obtained a copy of the video that shows when the assassin, wearing black clothing, runs up to Judge Vicente Bermudez in order to shoot him in the head.

The video purports to show Bermudez collapse after being shot. The assassin simply turns around and runs away thereafter. Another man in dark pants and a white shirt appears to run alongside the assassin. Bermudez had been jogging without any security escort at the time of his murder. The video does not reveal the type of pistol used by the assassin. Unlike the United States, the purchase of weapons is controlled by the Mexican Army. Currently, Mexican citizens can only purchase hunting weapons such as bolt-action rifles, pump shotguns and .22 caliber pistols. Only criminals, military, and police forces carry weapons in Mexico.

While government officials have not named a suspect in the murder, Bermudez’s court docket proved to be a who’s who of the Mexican underworld. The judge was expected to issue rulings on challenges to the extradition of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera, the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, which is considered by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency to be the most powerful cartel in the world. Bermudez also handled some of the challenges filed by the attorneys of the top leader for the Los Zetas Cartel, Miguel Angel “El 40” Treviño Morales. The judge also heard cases tied to the prosecution of Mario “El Gordo” Cardenas Guillen, who at one time was the leader of the Gulf Cartel.

The high-profile assassination led to Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto to call for federal authorities to take over the murder investigation. In Mexico, violent cases are usually investigated and prosecuted at the state level.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project and you can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.

Tony Aranda contributed to this report.