Tijuana's Police Chief Fired After Wave of Violence

No reason was given for Capella's abrupt dismissal. 

Baja California state Attorney General Rommel Moreno said three police officers were among the nine decapitated men, whose bodies and heads were discovered in a poor Tijuana neighborhood. Their police credentials were found stuffed in their mouths.

Police were investigating whether some of the 37 deaths between Saturday and Monday were part of a retaliatory spree sparked by the killing of a 25-year-old woman believed to be a drug trafficker's girlfriend, Moreno said.

He said interviews with families members indicated that 80 percent of the victims had been involved in drug dealing.

But four of the dead were children.

Two brothers, aged 4 and 13, had been waiting for their parents outside a convenience store when gunmen opened fire, killing the boys and several adults. A 14-year-old boy working at locksmith's kiosk was shot dead in an attack on a neighboring business. And a 12-year-old was killed when the car he was riding was sprayed with bullets.

Violence is soaring
Violence has soared in Mexico as drug cartels compete for smuggling routes and battle government forces.

In the northwestern state of Sonora, a 15-year-old boy was found shot to death under a tree. Police named no suspects or motive.

In southern Michoacan state, gunmen burst into the offices of a local cattle ranchers' association and killed one of its directors, a 27-year-old woman. Police arrested two suspects but gave no possible motive.

Mexican newspapers have reported that more than 4,000 people have been killed across the country this year in drug-related violence.