Officer Apologizes For Deadly Mexico Subway Shooting Spree

A policeman who allegedly killed three people and wounded six in a Mexico City subway car apologized after Thursday’s shooting spree, saying he was feeling depressed.

The attack underscored the distrust many Mexicans already feel for police, who are often accused of corruption and criminal acts.

Ernesto Cruz Jimenez, 22, was arrested on the scene after a security guard captured him in a subway tunnel. Afterward prosecutors showed reporters a 9 mm pistol seized at the scene.

Cruz Jimenez gave investigators a confused statement in which he apologized, but did not confess to the shootings.

A rookie with the police force of the adjacent state of Mexico, Cruz Jimenez had been missing since Tuesday when he failed to show up for work, authorities said.

“The man was walking very calmly in the tunnel when he suddenly turned around. I saw the pistol and got down to protect myself. When he got close I grabbed him,” said the guard, Francisco Javier Hernandez.

The shooting occurred in the La Raza station in the north of the city about 6 a.m., just before morning rush hour. Hundreds of bystanders gathered as ambulances took away the dead and wounded.

Some news reports said he apparently tried to rob passengers in the car. Other accounts said he tried to strike up a conversation and began shooting when passengers refused to oblige.

He told police he was going through a “crisis.” When they asked him if he realized he had just killed people, he apologized to the families.

Two victims died on the spot, the third at a hospital. Two of the wounded were reported in critical condition. One had been shot in the stomach, the other in the head, according to Notimex, the official Mexican news agency.

Many police in Mexico are poorly paid, trained and equipped. Some resort to robberies and other crimes.