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Honduran police spokesman shot to death

spokesman for the Honduran police was shot to death on the evening of Tuesday, Aug. 28, in the capital city of Tegucigalpa, according to La Prensa Gráfica.

Lawyer and journalist Julio César Casaleno was killed after he left his home and was driving to a nearby store, according to El Heraldo. Casaleno was the host of a National Police television program on the local broadcaster Maya TV, reported El Heraldo.

At this writing, the motives for the killing are unknown, but there are characteristics that suggest the involvement of organized crime, according to the AFP news agency.

Honduras has the second highest number of attacks on journalists in the Americas, after Mexico. Authorities frequently blame the attacks on the Central American country's high level of insecurity, including the highest murder rate in the world. For more information, see this map of attacks against the press in Central America from the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas.

Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.