Gun incident spurs TV actress’s death

MEXICO CITY – A Mexican television actress died on Friday of a heart attack after a man armed with a pistol approached her vehicle on a Mexico City street, officials said.

Mariana Levy, 39, featured on the “Nuestra Casa” show on the Televisa network, developed labored breathing after seeing the weapon, said prosecutor Carlos Gurrea.

Her husband, Jose Maria Fernandez Jr., drove her to a clinic where she died, Gurrea said.

A man was arrested and later identified by Levy’s husband as the man who approached the vehicle, in which the couple was taking several children to an amusement park.

Gurrea said the suspect – who was being held on suspicion of illegal weapons possession – did not apparently directly threaten or make any contact with Levy.

He said the mere shock of seeing him approach the vehicle apparently triggered the attack.

The death shook the Mexican entertainment world. It was one of the highest-profile deaths in Mexico’s persistent wave of common crime since television comedian Francisco “Paco” Stanley was gunned down alongside a Mexico City freeway in 1999.