A powerful magnitude-7.2 earthquake shook south and central Mexico Friday, causing people to flee swaying buildings and office towers in the country's capital, where residents were still jittery after a deadly quake five months ago.
Crowds gathered on Mexico City's central Reforma Avenue as well as on streets in Oaxaca state's capital, nearer the quake's epicenter, which was in a rural area close to Mexico's Pacific coast and the border with Guerrero state. There were no immediate reports of deaths.
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A powerful magnitude-7.2 earthquake shook south and central Mexico Friday, causing people to flee swaying buildings and office towers in the country's capital, where residents were still jittery after a deadly quake five months ago.
"It was awful," said Mercedes Rojas Huerta, 57, who was sitting on a bench outside her home in Mexico City's trendy Condesa district, too frightened to go back inside. "It started to shake; the cars were going here and there. What do I do?"
She said she was still scared thinking of the Sept. 19 earthquake that caused 228 deaths in the capital and 141 more in nearby states. Many buildings in Mexico City are still damaged from that quake.
The U.S. Geological Survey originally put the magnitude of Friday's quake at 7.5 but later lowered it to 7.2. It said the epicenter was 33 miles (53 kilometers) northeast of Pinotepa in southern Oaxaca state. It had a depth of 15 miles (24 kilometers).
Mexican Civil Protection chief Luis Felipe Puente tweeted that there were no immediate reports of damages from the quake. The Oaxaca state government said via Twitter that only material damages were reported near Pinotepa and Santiago Jamiltepec, but that shelters were opened for those fleeing damaged homes.
The Mexico City Red Cross said via Twitter that the facade of a building collapsed in Mexico City's Condesa neighborhood, which was hit hard on Sept. 19. A video showed people walking through a dust cloud. But reporters at the scene later found no evidence of a collapse at the location given.
About an hour after the quake, a magnitude 5.8 aftershock also centered in Oaxaca caused tall buildings in Mexico City to briefly sway again.
The Sept. 8 quake killed nearly 100 people in Oaxaca and neighboring Chiapas, but was centered about 273 miles (440 kilometers) southwest of Friday's earthquake, Earle said.
In Mexico's capital, frightened residents flooded into the streets in Condesa, including one unidentified woman wrapped in just a towel, but there were no immediate signs of damage.
"I'm scared," said Rojas Huerta, recalling five months ago when buildings fell as she ran barefoot into the street. "The house is old."
People stand in the street as an earthquake shakes Mexico City, Friday, Feb. 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Bernandino Hernandez)
"It was awful," said Mercedes Rojas Huerta, 57, who was sitting on a bench outside her home in Mexico City's trendy Condesa district, too frightened to go back inside. "It started to shake; the cars were going here and there. What do I do?"
People walk down the center of a street in the Roma neighborhood after an earthquake shook Mexico City, Friday, Feb. 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
She said she was still scared thinking of the Sept. 19 earthquake that caused 228 deaths in the capital and 141 more in nearby states. Many buildings in Mexico City are still damaged from that quake.
People stand along Reforma Avenue after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake shook Mexico City, Friday, Feb. 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
The U.S. Geological Survey originally put the magnitude of Friday's quake at 7.5 but later lowered it to 7.2. It said the epicenter was 33 miles (53 kilometers) northeast of Pinotepa in southern Oaxaca state. It had a depth of 15 miles (24 kilometers).
A woman is helped outside, along Reforma Avenue after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake shook Mexico City, Friday, Feb. 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
Mexican Civil Protection chief Luis Felipe Puente tweeted that there were no immediate reports of damages from the quake. The Oaxaca state government said via Twitter that only material damages were reported near Pinotepa and Santiago Jamiltepec, but that shelters were opened for those fleeing damaged homes.
People stand outside, along Reforma Avenue after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake shook Mexico City, Friday, Feb. 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
The Mexico City Red Cross said via Twitter that the facade of a building collapsed in Mexico City's Condesa neighborhood, which was hit hard on Sept. 19. A video showed people walking through a dust cloud. But reporters at the scene later found no evidence of a collapse at the location given.
Patients rest in their hospital beds parked outside the General Hospital after they were evacuated, in Veracruz, Mexico, Friday, Feb. 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez)
About an hour after the quake, a magnitude 5.8 aftershock also centered in Oaxaca caused tall buildings in Mexico City to briefly sway again.
USGS seismologist Paul Earle said Friday's earthquake appeared to be a separate temblor, rather than an aftershock of a Sept. 8 earthquake also centered in Oaxaca, which registered a magnitude of 8.2. The Sept. 19 earthquake struck closer to Mexico City.
An evacuated patient sits outside the General Hospital after an earthquake, in Veracruz, Mexico, Friday, Feb. 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez)
The Sept. 8 quake killed nearly 100 people in Oaxaca and neighboring Chiapas, but was centered about 273 miles (440 kilometers) southwest of Friday's earthquake, Earle said.
An evacuated patient sits outside the General Hospital after an earthquake, in Veracruz, Mexico, Friday, Feb. 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez)
In Mexico's capital, frightened residents flooded into the streets in Condesa, including one unidentified woman wrapped in just a towel, but there were no immediate signs of damage.
An evacuated patient sits outside the General Hospital after an earthquake, in Veracruz, Mexico, Friday, Feb. 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez)
"I'm scared," said Rojas Huerta, recalling five months ago when buildings fell as she ran barefoot into the street. "The house is old."
Two diners sit outside a restaurant on Reforma Avenue after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake shook Mexico City, Friday, Feb. 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
MEXICO CITY (AP) — The family and supporters of a missing woman who may have been the first victim of a Mexico City serial killer protested Friday at the site where the bones and possessions of a half-dozen women were found last week.
Protesters covered the facade of the apartment building with placards after investigators found the bones, cell phones and ID cards of several women at rented rooms there, apparent mementos of the killer's 12-year trail of victims.
Most of the placards taped to the non-descript apartment building on the city's east side Friday asked variants of a single question: Why did it take prosecutors 12 years to investigate the disappearance of Amairany Roblero, then 18.
The high school student vanished in 2012 and her parents never heard from her — or investigators — until last week, a pattern all too familiar in missing persons cases in Mexico, where prosecutors often leave it up to relatives to investigate.
“The prosecutors had the case file, but they didn't ever give any results to her parents,” said Alejandra Jiménez, a family friend who accompanied Amairany's parents in their search and at Friday's protest.
Her parents “printed up flyers, and they distributed them outside of her school” — the last place she was seen — “but her parents had nothing, nowhere to start, nor any directions to the end.”
In fact, prosecutors never caught the killer. It was neighbors and police who detained him last week after he allegedly broke into a neighbor’s apartment to kill his seventh victim, was interrupted and left a surviving witness.
The suspect — who was only identified by his first name, Miguel, according to Mexican law — apparently waited for a woman to leave her apartment last week and then rushed in and sexually abused and strangled her 17-year-old daughter.
The mother returned and saw the man leaving, but he slashed her in the neck and fled, authorities said. The mother survived but her daughter did not.
The suspect lived near the scene of the crime, and he was quickly identified and arrested. He has been ordered held over for trial on charges of murder and attempted murder, both related to the most recent victims.
While Mexico City authorities sought Thursday to downplay the case — city prosecutor Ulises Lara contended the killer was essentially unstoppable because “he showed no signs of violent or aggressive behavior in his daily life" — protesters weren't buying those excuses.
“They (authorities) have all the means to look for missing people,” Jiménez said. “Instead of focusing on their political campaigns, they should help all the women who are looking for their children.”
This week, prosecutors finally called Amairany's parents to tell them they had found unspecified “evidence” related to their daughter in a room the suspect rented.
Previously, investigators said they found blood stains, bones, a saw, cellphones and missing women’s ID cards, as well as other “biological material” in the rooms. They also found “a series of notebooks that may well be narrations of the acts that Miguel carried out against his victims.”
“But they haven't shown her parents any belongings, no clothing, no photo, nothing,” said Jiménez. “This is wearing down her parents physically, mentally.”
Juan Carlos Gutiérrez, a lawyer who represents the family of another suspected victim, questioned why authorities didn’t investigate her disappearance earlier — acting only when evidence linked to her case showed up at the suspect’s apartment.
“Why was there never an investigation, why were people never interviewed, despite missing person reports being filed starting in 2015?” Gutiérrez said.
Without proper funding, training or professionalism, prosecutors in Mexico’s capital have routinely failed to stop serial killers until the number of victims reaches a point that can’t be ignored.
In 2021, a serial killer in a Mexico City suburb was only caught after years of alleged crimes — 19 bodies were found hacked up and buried at his house — because his final victim was the wife of a police commander. The commander burst into the suspect's house with a bunch of other cops, only to find a scene of horror.
In 2018, a serial killer in Mexico City responsible for the deaths of at least 10 women was caught only when he was found pushing a dismembered body down the street in a baby carriage. He had dumped most of the bodies of his victims in vacant lots.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
A basket of flowers sits next to a poster of Amarirany Roblero who went missing 12 years ago, during a protest outside an apartment rented by a suspected serial killer where evidence related to Roblero was found, in the Iztacalco neighborhood of Mexico City, Friday, April 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
Friends and family holds images of women who have gone missing, during a protest outside an apartment rented by a suspected serial killer, in the Iztacalco neighborhood of Mexico City, Friday, April 26, 2024. Protesters covered the facade of the building with placards after investigators found the bones, cell phones and ID cards of several women at rented rooms there. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
Cecilia Gonzalez, the mother of Amarirany Roblero, who went missing 12 years ago, cries during a protest outside an apartment rented by a suspected serial killer where evidence related to her daughter was found, in the Iztacalco neighborhood of Mexico City, Friday, April 26, 2024. Protesters covered the facade of the building with placards after investigators found the bones, cell phones and ID cards of several women at rented rooms there, asking variants of a single question: Why did it take prosecutors 12 years to investigate the disappearance of Amairany Roblero, then 18. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
Mario Roblero and Cecilia Gonzalez hold images of their missing daughter Amarirany Roblero, during a protest outside an apartment rented by a suspected serial killer, in the Iztacalco neighborhood of Mexico City, Friday, April 26, 2024. Protesters covered the facade of the building with placards after investigators found the bones, cell phones and ID cards of several women at rented rooms there, asking variants of a single question: Why did it take prosecutors 12 years to investigate the disappearance of Amairany Roblero, then 18. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
Alejandra Jiménez holds an image of Amarirany Roblero who went missing 12 years ago, during a protest outside an apartment rented by a suspected serial killer, in the Iztacalco neighborhood of Mexico City, Friday, April 26, 2024. Protesters covered the facade of the building with placards after investigators found the bones, cell phones and ID cards of several women at rented rooms there, asking variants of a single question: Why did it take prosecutors 12 years to investigate the disappearance of Amairany Roblero, then 18. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
