TIXTLA, Mexico — As the bullets crackled in the air and police bundled students into the backs of police cars, Eusebio ran with all his strength.
Shots were being fired at those trying to escape, but Eusebio was afraid of being taken by the officers, who were accompanied by men in plainclothes with rifles.
“It was terrifying but I just wanted to get away. I had a bad feeling about these police,” says Eusebio, a 19-year-old student at a university for rural schoolteachers in Tixtla, in southern Guerrero state.
That feeling likely saved Eusebio’s life. On Sunday, Guerrero State Prosecutor Iñaky Blanco said alleged drug cartel assassins confessed they’d worked with police to murder detained students late last month. The suspects also led officials from the prosecutor's office to pits where 28 charred bodies were found.
Prosecutors are comparing the DNA of the victims with that of families of 43 students who went missing during the shooting on Sept. 26 in the town of Iguala.
The 19-year-old student described his fight for survival to GlobalPostduring an interview at his university. Eusebio is just a nickname. He asked that his real name not be published because he fears repercussions from what he says is a corrupt web of police and narco traffickers.
His account is supported by state officials who have arrested more than 20 police officers and alleged cartel members in connection with the shooting.
The revelations of such a terrible case of violence and corruption are a major embarrassment for President Enrique Peña Nieto, who has been trying to overhaul Mexico’s image from one of gangster bloodshed to one of reform and investment.
"None of us were armed"