Federal Official Dies in Apparent Suicide

A top official of Mexico’s attorney general’s office was found dead, slumped over the steering wheel of his Chevrolet Suburban a block from his Mexico City home. Investigators said it appeared to be a suicide. Juan Manuel Izabal Villicana held a 9-millimeter Beretta pistol in his right hand and died of a single gunshot into his mouth, investigators said. There were no signs of a struggle, and the keys were in the vehicle’s ignition. Mexican news media were awash in speculation about whether Izabal had indeed killed himself, or whether the death could be linked to one of the drug smuggling organizations his federal agency is in charge of prosecuting. Prosecutors said the evidence seemed to indicate suicide.