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Airman among 6 slain at club: Medic shot trying to give victim aid

Airman among 6 slain at club: Medic shot trying to give victim aid
By Daniel Borunda / El Paso Times
Posted: 11/04/2009 11:46:27 PM MST

Airman killed in Juarez

The violence in Juarez continues claiming lives, the latest included an airman from Holloman Air Force Base. Should the U.S. put more pressure on Mexico or help the government control the bloodshed?

A medic from Holloman Air Force Base may have been attempting to treat wounded victims in a shooting when he was targeted and killed by gunmen inside a Juárez strip club, a friend of the airman said.

Staff Sgt. David Booher, 26, was among six men killed just after midnight Wednesday in the Amadeus strip club, Chihuahua state police and Holloman Air Force Base officials said. Booher was with the 49th Fighter Wing.

Booher is the first active member of the U.S. military known to have been to be killed in Juárez

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since a drug cartel war began in January 2008.
The strip club shooting was part of another violent day in Juárez in which at least six other killings took place including four young men who were lined against a wall and executed outside an elementary school.

Booher, who has family in El Paso and Juárez, was on his day off and had gone with friends to Juárez, said his friend Eric Estrada, who was not part of the group.

Estrada, 28, said his friends told him what happened when gunmen burst into the Amadeus, a neon-lit strip club billed as "El Imperio del Placer" (the Empire of Pleasure) on Avenida Ejercito Nacional.

"They (the shooters) went in there acting as federal agents. They told everyone not to move or they would kill them,"

Estrada said.
"Nobody saw exactly how they killed him (Booher) because they were all face down. ... My other friends who were with him think that because he is a combat medic, when he moved to try to help someone, they shot him."

Estrada described Booher as a likable guy who because of his military training did not worry about visiting Juárez. Booher's good looks had gotten him a spot as an extra in a "Transformers" movie filmed at Holloman Air Force Base.

Chihuahua state attorney general's spokesman Arturo Sandoval said the hitmen fired 30 rounds. Estrada said Booher was shot six times.

Also killed were club employees, waiter Luis Fabian Carbajal Hernandez, 24, and security guard Omar Osvaldo Garcia Cabrales, 32. Three other men killed had yet to be identified.

Authorities initially said 10 others were wounded, but Sandoval said there was only one other person wounded, who was identified as Jaime Alberto Arguelles.

Due to the violence, the 12th Air Force, which includes the 49th Fighter Wing, earlier this year restricted personnel from traveling to Mexican border cities and the entire state of Chihuahua. Fort Bliss has also banned its soldiers from visiting Juárez.

The Amadeus shooting was part of a plague of violence spurred by a war between drug cartels in Juárez that has included several mass shootings inside bars, restaurants, drug rehab centers and other public sites.

Some of the shootings have been linked to extortion attempts, gang warfare or targeted businesses that were drug-trafficking fronts. The violence continues daily.

Also on Wednesday, four men were lined up against a wall outside an elementary school and shot execution-style around 12:30 p.m. in south Juárez. The men, who appeared to be in their early 20s, were shot in the head, Chihuahua state police said.

There were two more murders as of early Wednesday evening, raising the death toll past 30 for the first four days of November.

There have been more than 2,000 murders in the Juárez area this year, surpassing the 1,600 killed when the cartel war began last year.

Daniel Borunda may be reached at dborunda at elpasotimes.com; 546-6102.

By nine inch nails on Nov 5, 2009, 06:49 in Mexico forum.

nine inch nails says on Nov 5, 2009, 06:52:

Yeah the Air Force warned them against going but guys will do guy things, shouldn't be executed for it. At least in Colombia they for the most part leave the patrons out of the killings.

0 funny, 0 helpful.