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Final moments of Indy journalist killed in Oaxaca

12:52 H | Topics: Activism - Controversia - Mexico

It's hard to believe that idyllic Oaxaca City is the scene of such calamity and bloodshed, as Mala's been telling us about lately. As she mentioned in a previous post, New York-based journalist for Indymedia, Brad Will, was caught in the crossfire and killed by a bullet to the chest as he was covering the confrontation for the website.

Spain's 20 Minutos reports today that Will was shooting video at the time, and captured his last moments -- and his own death -- on tape.

Will received a shot in the chest during a shootout and died on the way to a public hospital.

Now there are questions as to who fired the shot that killed him.

For the moment, the only valid testimony is the one that he himself captured with his camera: his own death.

You can see the video on YouTube.

For Indymedia there seems to be no question; they are saying that Brad was killed by the Mexican government forces. They also published his last communique from Oaxaca, entitled "Death in Oaxaca", which reads, in part:

went walking back from alejandros barricade with a group of supporters who came from an outlying district a half hour away -- went walking with angry folk on their way to the morgue -- went inside and saw him -- havent seen too many bodies in my life -- eats you up -- a stack of nameless corpes in the corner -- about the number who had died -- no refrigeration -- the smell -- they had to open his skull to pull the bullet out -- walked back with him and his people

Indymedia NYC said in a statement: "All we want in compensation for his death is the only thing Brad ever wanted to see in this world: justice."

Via / 20 Minutos and Indymedia NYC

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• 84 Journalists Threatened in Mexico in 2007 (Monday, Jan 07 2008)