Mexican news anchor Ciro Gómez Leyva. Photo: Google

PULSE NEWS MEXICO

Renowned Mexican Imagen Televisión news anchor Ciro Gómez Leyva was attacked by two gunmen late Thursday, Dec. 17, just one day after President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) verbally assaulted him during his daily press conference.

Gómez Leyva was shot at while in his armored SUV, at about 11:10 p.m. Thursday night, just 200 meters from his home after he left the television broadcast studio.

The assailants apparently shot at him from motorcycles and then sped away.

Two bullet casings were later found at the scene of the attack, although authorities said that there were probably more than two shots fired.

Gómez Leyva said Friday, Dec. 16, that had his vehicle not been armored, “the assailants would have no doubt accomplished their objective, which was to kill me.”

Mexico City Governor Claudia Sheinbaum immediately dispatched police to investigate the crime, and AMLO, in his morning press conference on Friday, Dec. 16, said that he condemned the assault.

Notwithstanding, one day earlier, on Wednesday, Dec. 15, López Obrador called Gómez Leyva “dishonest” during his daily press conference and added that it would be wonderful if people didn’t have to listen to him.

The president then added, in jest, that listening to conservative reporters such as Gómez Leyva could be so harmful to listeners’ health because it “could give you a brain tumor.”