Valentin Elizalde ~ R.I.P.

"...popular singer, Valentin Elizalde, his manager and driver were gunned down in an ambush after a concert in the border city of Reynosa in an apparent gangland hit Saturday as unabated drug-related violence continued across Mexico.

The {27-year-old singer} was killed about 20 minutes after performing at a local fair. Elizalde was a mainstay of the accordion-based norteño music variously known as Banda or grupero and also was known by the nickname "the Golden Rooster..." He also wrote lyrics honoring one of Mexico's most notorious drug lords, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, leader of the Sinaloa Cartel. Last year, he sang one of his narcocorridos, ballads honoring the exploits of drug dealers, to a crowd of more than 3,000 convicts at the Puente Grande prison in the central state of Jalisco.

According to media reports, two vehicles chased Elizalde's black Suburban as he left the concert and opened fire with automatic weapons as dozens of witnesses looked on. As many as 70 bullet cartridges were found scattered on the street around Elizalde's car. According to media reports, Elizalde was hit as many as eight times."