Belgian Killed In Mexico Resort Was Businessman

MEXICO CITY (AP) ⿿ A Belgian citizen shot to death in the Pacific resort of Acapulco near the site of the Mexican Open tennis tournament was a resident businessman working for a transnational firm, local prosecutors in Mexico said Sunday.

Saturday's killing was the second violent attack involving foreigners in Acapulco in less than three weeks. On Feb. 4, a band of masked gunmen invaded a beachfront home and raped six visiting Spanish women

The Guerrero state district attorney's office identified the dead man as 59-year-old Jan Sarens, an executive with the family-owned Belgian firm Sarens, which supplies heavy transportation equipment for construction, mining and energy. It has offices in 50 countries, including Mexico.

Celia Gomez, an attorney for the firm's Mexico office, said it had not identified the body. Gomez said the company had a board member named Jans Sarens who lived in Mexico.

The man was shot to death Saturday afternoon in a shopping center parking lot, and his body was found outside a Mercedes Benz car with Mexico City plates.

Authorities in Guerrero state said in a statement that the killing was being investigated and the motive for the attack had still not been determined.

Violence and crime, much of it blamed on drug gangs, have grown worse in Acapulco in recent years.

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