Prosecutors file charges against teen assassin

MEXICAN prosecutors have filed homicide charges against a 14-year-old US citizen who allegedly acted as an assassin for a drug cartel.

Authorities say Edgar Jimenez Lugo confessed to killing four people whose beheaded bodies were hung from a bridge in Cuernavaca, a central colonial city that is popular with Mexican and international tourists alike.

Jimenez has been charged with the homicides and other crimes, including arms possession and transporting cocaine, prosecutors from Morelos state, where Cuernavaca is located, said.

Because he was charged as a juvenile, he faces a maximum three years in prison.

Prosecutors identified the boy only by his first name, but his family gave his full name to journalists.

Jimenez was born in San Diego, California, but grew up in Mexico, raised by his grandmother. He and his sister were arrested in December as they tried to board a plane to Tijuana, where they purportedly planned to cross the border and reunite with their mother in San Diego.

The two siblings allegedly worked for Julio “El Negro” Padilla, a reputed drug trafficker who authorities say has been fighting for control of the drug trade in Morelos.

When he was handed over to federal prosecutors, the boy calmly said in front of cameras that he participated in four killings while drugged and under threat. But his family has said they don’t believe the confession.