Mexican Beauty Queen used as human shield in gun war

A Mexican beauty queen killed over the weekend in a shootout between suspected drug traffickers and soldiers had a gun in her hands during the confrontation and was being used as a human shield, a federal official said Tuesday.

Maria Susana Flores Gamez, crowned 2012 Woman of Sinaloa in February, came out of the car first with a gun in her hands during the confrontation, with the other gunmen hiding behind her, according to the official from the attorney general’s office.

Flores Gamez’s exact relationship with the men is still unknown, though relationships between Mexican beauty queens and cartels are nothing new.

 He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.

The official said he read the military report of Saturday’s shootout in Flores Gamez’s hometown of Guamuchil in the western Sinaloa state, home to Mexico’s most powerful cartel of the same name. The attorney general’s investigators are still trying to determine if the 20-year-old fired the gun she was holding.

The report said she went down in a hail of gunfire. She was found dead near an assault rifle along with two others.

“They used the woman as a human shield,” the official said.

The slender, 5-foot-7-inch brunette had competed with seven other contestants for the more prestigious state beauty contest, Miss Sinaloa, but didn’t win. Miss Sinaloa state winners compete for the Miss Mexico title, whose holder represents the country in the international Miss Universe pageant.