(CNN) -- Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, made its own history Tuesday as its homicide rate reached 3,000 deaths for the year -- 10 times the number of killings annually that the border city counted just a few years ago.
With two weeks left in the year, 2010 is now the deadliest year Juarez has ever seen, a spokesman for the Chihuahua state attorney general's office told CNN.
"At 12:15 p.m. we hit 3,000 murders for the year. The state attorney general's office had the number at 2,998 as of Monday and with the two murders today that brings us to 3,000," spokesman Arturo Sandoval said in a phone interview with CNN late Tuesday.
The killings happened in two separate incidents, according to Sandoval. One of the victims was found shot dead in a car and the other was shot and killed in front of relatives. The victims, 35 and 46 respectively, were both males, Sandoval said.
Before a spasm of drug-related violence hit the city in 2008, the bloodiest year in Juarez was around 300, according to Sandoval.
"Last year we had 2,656. The year before in 2008 it was around 1,500 and in 2007 we had about 300," he said. "Can you imagine?" CNN
