Oaxaca, Mexico: American gets caught in downtown shootout and is killed -- UPDATE II

Bradley Will - or Wheyler, being carried to an ambulance

The name and nationality of the Indymedia journalist killed this afternoon in a shootout in Oaxaca is now in some doubt. He was initially reported to have been Bradley Will, an American working as a photographer for Indymedia Mexico. It is now being reported that his name was Bradley Wheyler, either American or German, a cameraman for Indymedia, which was supporting the APPO insurgency.


Confusion reigns as shooting breaks out.


Here are some of the shooters. I count 3 armed and possibly 6.

This may also be the last photo taken by Bradley Will, or Wheyler.

Note that the shooter in the last photo does not appear in the group shown approaching in photo 3. He came along behind the initial group. The white truck shown behind the shooters in photo 3 now appears on the left of the last photo, or to the shooter's right. The smoke from the burning pickup is quite visible in the last photo. Also, the street barricade and those manning it are visible behind the shooter in the final photo. The shooters were not attacking the barricade but were after those who were burning the pickup.

In the colonia La Experimental (you pass it on your way to or from the airport), a group of men arrived to tear down the blockades to the entrance of the colonia. Many gunshots were exchanged between them and the APPO personnel manning the barricades. Six are reported wounded in this exchange. Friends and neighbors of both groups are trying to keep them calm and prevent any more bloodshed.

That's a tally so far today of 1 dead and about 12 wounded in at least two different gunfights.

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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, American killed