SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador -- Shouting, 'This is an embassy dog!' a suspected guerrilla Friday shot to death a Salvadoran guard of the U.S. Embassy as he crossed a street in the capital, an embassy spokesman said.
Raul Melendez Aquinos, was shot in the back and head three times as he walked across the street from the Maternity Hospital near downtown San Salvador, U.S. Embassy spokesman Jim Williams said.
A white car without license plates and carrying three youths pulled up behind Melendez. The gunman jumped out of the car and shot Melendez, who had been employed at the mission since 1971, Williams said.
As the gunman pumped three bullets into Melendez, he shouted, 'We are from the FPL (Popular Liberation Forces) and this is an embassy dog!' said an embassy statement that quoted witnesses to thekilling.
After shooting the 62-year-old Melendez, who worked as a guard at the embassy parking lot, the gunman into the car and drove away, witnesses told the embassy.
Salvadoran national police said they are investigating the crime, the second killing this year of a Salvadoran guard working at the U.S. Embassy.
On April 16, gunmen killed Joaquim Alfredo Zapata, 59, the top-ranking Salvadoran security officer at the embassy. A communique surfaced claiming the FPL killed Zapata, but police said they doubted the authenticity of the document. No arrests have been made in the Zapata killing.
In a separate incident Friday, San Salvador's police chief was killed by a police officer irate over losing his job.
Capt. Juan Pablo Rivas, 62, died of multiple gunshot wounds at his desk inside municipal police headquarters in downtown San Salvador, said a statement released by the city hall press office.
Rivas was killed as he met with five police officials, including the head of General Cemetery security who was being dismissed for 'serious falts' in his work, a city hall spokesman said.
The dismissed police officer pulled out his revolver in a fit of anger and fired several shots at Rivas, the spokesman said.
National police identified the suspect as Municipal Police Cmdr. Manuel de Jesus Medino and said he was jailed at National Police headquaters.
