(CNN Spanish) – Mexican actor Octavio Ocaña, 22, best known for his role as Benito in the series “Neighbors” died of a gunshot wound to the head, reported the 30th of October the Attorney General’s Office (FGJ) of the State of Mexico in a statement.
Ocaña played the well-known character Benito Rivers in the popular Televisa series launched in 2005. The Mexican production ran for three seasons from 2005 to 2008 and returned to the screens in 2017, when Benito was no longer a child, but an 18-year-old. . From 2017 to date, “Neighbors” added another eight seasons, for a total of 11.
The Mexico State Prosecutor’s Office reported that Ocaña’s body was found inside the truck he was driving, which crashed on the Chamapa-Lechería highway, at the height of the Prados Iztacala neighborhood, in the municipality of Atizapán de Zaragoza.
According to the divergent versions of the authorities and the Ocaña family, this is what is known up to the moment of the case, chronologically.
October 29: an alleged persecution that ends in tragedy
The Mexican State Prosecutor’s Office said that on the afternoon of October 29, Ocaña accidentally fired his own weapon while he was being pursued by policemen from the municipality of Cuautitlán Izcalli, who gave him the order to stop the vehicle he was driving.
In social networks, a video of a persecution by the Cuautitlán Izcalli police circulated that involves a truck that matches the description of the one that the now deceased actor was driving. The video has raised questions from the Ocaña family about the actions of the local authorities. CNN has contacted the authorities of the municipality of Cuautitlán Izcalli to verify details of the leak of the images, but has not received a response.
According to a statement from the Cuautitlán Izcalli government, the municipal police responded to a report “about some people aboard a gray Jeep truck carrying a firearm.” The police say that the vehicle was located through the video surveillance cameras of the C4 system “marking the stop of the crew members of the unit who ignored it, which led to a persecution within the municipal territory until reaching the Chamapa – Lechería highway” .
The Mexico State Prosecutor’s Office told CNN on Monday it had no information on how the images of persecution circulating on social media and media were leaked. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the video belongs to “cameras of the municipal or state C4 system”, to which they do not have access.
October 30: the state FGJ confirms the death of Ocaña
On Saturday, October 30, the Attorney General’s Office of the State of Mexico confirmed the death of Ocaña on Friday 29.
“The Attorney General’s Office of the State of Mexico is advancing in the proceedings to clarify the causes for which a 22-year-old subject, who has already been identified, lost his life due to a gunshot to the head,” it read on a statement.
According to the Mexican Prosecutor’s Office, Ocaña lost control of the truck, causing it to crash on the side of the road. The authorities added that two people who were with Ocaña were interviewed and one of them, who was allegedly in the passenger seat, said that “they had been consuming intoxicating drinks and when they were driving through the streets of Cuautitlán Izcalli, municipal police stopped them, however, Octavio sped up the truck to avoid being stopped. “
CNN contacted the Cuautitlán Izcalli Police by telephone – a municipality in which Ocaña and his companions were traveling when they were supposedly stopped – but the institution said it had no further details of the case so far.
“[Los testimonios] They have also referred that on the afternoon of yesterday, Friday, October 29, when traveling through the streets of the municipality of Cuautitlán Izcalli, municipal police officers would have stopped them, however, the driver did not stop the march and accelerated to avoid being arrested, which started a persecution, “said the state prosecutor’s office.
The two people who accompanied Ocaña were detained by municipal police, the statement said. The Mexican State Prosecutor’s Office said that “there was no exchange of shots.”
The municipal government of Cuautitlán Izcalli indicated it’s a statement which works in conjunction with the Prosecutor’s Office “with the aim of not creating speculation and letting the investigations carried out by the competent authorities determine responsibilities.”
According to the authorities, both Ocaña’s companions and the municipal police officers indicated that there was no exchange of shots.
Televisa and Ocaña’s co-workers and various actors they mourned the death of the young man through their social networks. Actor Eugenio Derbez – executive producer of “Necinos” – shared a message through his Twitter account and a photograph of Ocaña’s beginnings in the series. “Violence once again took one of our own from us,” wrote Derbez, who demanded justice for Ocaña and his family.
October 31: family and friends say their last goodbye
“Dear all: as the family of Octavio Ocaña we recognize that being a public figure, this pain crossed borders, we accept and are grateful for wanting to accompany us through this great duel,” the statement read shared on social networks by Bertha Ocaña, sister of the actor.
The young man’s wake was held on October 31 at the Recinto Memorial funeral home in the city of Villahermosa, Tabasco, in southeastern Mexico, and his burial took place the following day. The actor and his family are originally from Villahermosa.
Octavio Pérez, the actor’s father, spoke to the press on October 30 outside the Gayosso Santa Mónica funeral home in Tlalnepantla, State of Mexico. When asked about the companions of the vehicle, he assured that his son “came with trusted people, with people of mine, with people I trust.”
Pérez said he was devastated and commented that his son was someone who had no enemies. Likewise, he indicated that the versions – which have been published on social networks and in the Mexican media – that it was an attempt to rob the truck in which they were traveling are not true.
For her part, Bertha Ocaña assured that if there was any injustice in the death of her brother, the family would reach the last consequences.
“Of course, if it was a case of injustice, we are going to reach the last consequences and we are going to ask for justice and it is even something that we want to thank all the people because they are already doing it and we as a family at the moment the priority is give Octavio’s body rest, “said the sister. “Unfortunately we also live in a country where there is no justice and apparently it will never exist,” he said.
November 1: Ocaña’s father sends a message to the authorities
“Right now I just want to receive my son, give him a holy burial because he was not a criminal, he was an actor, an actor that people love,” Octavio Pérez said outside the Villahermosa funeral home.
Pérez sent a message to the president of Mexico asking for justice for the death of his son. “I have never asked anyone for anything, thank God, but I hope that justice is done,” he added. He made the same request to the governor of the State of Mexico, warning that “they know they are cheating with all their things they are doing and putting my son as a delinquent and they are very wrong. They love my son for what he is, not for what they are inventing him. “
CNN has contacted the authorities of the State of Mexico to find out their position on the family’s accusations, to which they responded that the events are still under investigation.
November 3: López Obrador responds to Ocaña’s family
The President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, he said in his morning lecture Wednesday that he will intervene to find out the causes of Ocaña’s death.
“This about the young man who lost his life, you have to see the causes. I found out that the father asked us to intervene. We are going to do it. I have already instructed the Secretary of the Interior, Adán Augusto López Hernández, to contact the family, with the father of the young man and that the whole case be reviewed, that we help, although it is an investigation that has to do with the State of Mexico, “said López Obrador.
November 4: the Prosecutor’s Office responds to the president
At the request of the president, the Attorney General’s Office of the State of Mexico replied via Twitter this Thursday that he is in contact with Ocaña’s relatives “to carry out the necessary meetings in which the evidence collected for his unfortunate death is analyzed. “The Prosecutor added that” all the pertinent procedures will be carried out. “
CNN’s Elizabeth Plaza contributed to this report.
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Octavio Ocaña: the chronology of the case of the death of the Mexican actor