ACAPULCO. - A Belgian citizen was killed on Saturday by a bullet, in an alleged attempt to steal a luxury vehicle in the parking lot of a shopping plaza in Acapulco, officials said.

The Attorney General’s Office of Guerrero (PGJG) confirmed the death in part of a statement that said, "a gun shot on the left part of the chest" in one of the most exclusive areas of this resort town.

The death of the Belgian man occurs now almost three weeks after the rape of six Spanish tourists in the Punta Diamante resort of Acapulco, an incident that has been solved with the arrest of several people involved in the case.

Early reports indicate that the incident occurred at 4:43 local time (22:43 GMT) on Saturday afternoon.

Several witnesses told Efe that several individuals attempted to rob the Belgian man while he was in his Mercedes Benz, but he resisted the attempt and was shot at point blank and killed.

After the victim was shot, he managed to back out of the area but hit a planter, blew one of the rear tires and his body was found lying beside the vehicle.

According to personal documents collected by the authorities, the individual was identified as Jan KM Sarens, 59, whom paramedics local Red Cross tried to revive, but were not successful.

"He worked in Mexico City in the company SRNS Latinoamerica SA de CV, and had a temporary resident immigration status," said in the statement from the PGJG.

The incident occurred in the parking lot of the shopping plaza of Punta Diamante, near the Avenue of Nations Boulevard, which is about one kilometer away from the hotel where as of today, is where the Mexican Tennis Open will be held that now has special protection from the Army and police force.

Due to the climate of violence in the town of Acapulco, and for this murder, state and federal police arrived along with municipal police officers and immediately began an investigation.

The Belgian man’s lifeless body was taken to the Medical Examiner (Semefo) waiting to be claimed.

"The three institutions from different levels of government involved in ‘Operation Safe Guerrero’ have launched an operation to find those responsible for this crime," said in a statement by the prosecutor’s office.

Editorial@sandiegored.com

Omar.Martinez@sandiegored.com