Auburn man shot by Mexican soldiers

ACAPULCO, MEXICO (CBS) - A U.S. citizen was shot and killed by Mexican soldiers on Monday (August 23) near the coastal resort city of Acapulco.

According to police, Joseph Proctor, 32, was killed after having opened fire on an army convoy with an AR-15 rifle, and was killed in the return fire.

Proctor had been living in Mexico on and off for the last six years.

Proctor's girlfriend, Liliana Gil, said that she was initially told that Proctor had been involved in an auto accident, only to discover that he had been shot dead by the army.

"The soldiers shot my boyfriend. They called me and told me that he was in an auto accident and had flipped over. When I got to the Public Ministry, they told me that the soldiers had shot him," she said.

Gil also expressed doubts on the army's claim that Proctor had shot at the convoy, saying she had heard that the soldiers planted a weapon on his body after having shot him.

"I heard that six soldiers shot him, and then planted an AK-47 on him, when he never used weapons. We have no weapons. He couldn't have done that," he said.

Proctor had addresses in the Atlanta, Georgia and Auburn, New York areas.

Drug violence has escalated across Mexico as President Felipe Calderon goes after powerful cartels and as rival gangs fight over smuggling turf. More than 28,000 people have died in drug violence since Calderon took office in late 2006.