Prison director gunned down in Mexican border town

By Ignacio Alvarado CIUDAD JUAREZ, July 24 (Reuters) - A group of hitmen armed with automatic weapons ambushed the head of a giant prison in a northern Mexican city on Thursday soon after he received threats on his life from suspected drug gangs, said police. Salvador Barreno, 66, was leaving work at the largest jail in Ciudad Juarez when a group of men with assault rifles chased down his car, killing him and a bodyguard who was driving. The car was riddled with more than 80 bullet holes, according to local media. Barreno made it to a hospital but died in surgery. His bodyguard was killed instantly. The prison director had been receiving threats, likely from powerful drug cartels, before his murder, police said. Last week Alberto Varela, the head of security at the same prison, was killed in a similar attack after his name... [read full story]