Pro golfer Pat Landers, [left], and his girlfriend, Karla Baca [right], who had been quarantining in Mexico during the coronavirus pandemic was fatally shot along with his girlfriend when gunmen opened fire on their Jeep
The Syracuse-area man who had been quarantining in Mexico during the coronavirus pandemic was fatally shot along with his girlfriend when gunmen opened fire on their Jeep, according to reports.
The father-of-one and Baca, a physical education teacher, reportedly, were driving along a street in Juarez on Monday in the vehicle with New York plates when at least 20 bullets were fired at them. No arrests have been reported but, police in the border city just south of El Paso, Texas, are investigating the shocking attack.
Despite a stay-at-home order since March 23, more than 100 killings have been reported in Juarez this month, and police have attributed most of the violence to drug cartels.
Golf pro Pat Landers and Baca who had been dating for the past three or four months were sheltered down in Mexico due to the coronavirus pandemic, a friend revealed.
“He was a good dude,” his friend Dave LaBarge told the Post-Standard.
“He had an extraordinary life,” Barge said.
Police at the scene on in Juarez, Mexico on Monday where multiple gunshots hit a jeep driven by US couple Pat Landers and Karla Baca in Mexico, killing both
When Landers was 13 years old, he sank a hole-in-one at the Pope’s Grove Golf Course and another at the Millstone Golf Course six years later, according to the Post-Standard.
Landers, who was a landlord for investment properties in the Syracuse area, recently finished remodeling a house along the Seneca River, his pal said.
Another friend, Adam Howe, told the outlet that Landers met Baca on a trip to Texas several months ago, adding that he liked to travel to Las Vegas and other areas in the South because of the warm weather.
Howe said the last time they spoke was just a few days ago when Landers said he was trying to learn more Spanish — and joked that if he ate any more churros, he’d be fatter than him.
Victims: Karla Baca and Pat Landers
Howe said he spent all of Tuesday crying when he found out that Landers, who was supposed to be a groomsman at his July wedding, had been killed.
“I want people to know he was a great father and loved his son, Cameron,” Howe told Spectrum News.
“He loved him more than anything in the world.”
Baca was a Mexican citizen from Juárez, in the state of Chihuahua where state investigators are working with the U.S. Consulate in Juárez in the formal investigations.
Authorities in Juarez said Baca had been on a six-month leave and had just returned to work at her primary school on Monday – the day of the fatal shooting – according to the El Paso Times.
The border town of Juarez has been under a stay-at-home directive since March 23. Despite this, more than 100 killings have been reported there this month. Police have attributed most of the violence to drug cartels fighting for control over the crystal meth market.
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