There was a broad daylight murder in Orange Walk Town this morning. Jose Medina, who was lying low in the town, was shot and killed a stone's throw away from the house he moved to a few weeks ago. 

His girlfriend, Lucia Luna, who got injured in Medina's street execution, is currently hospitalized in a critical condition.

Residents say that Medina knew that he had a target on his back, and that he did what he could protect himself. But, at around 11:00 this morning, a shooter ambushed him right at the alley that leads to his house.

7News travelled to Orange Walk Town to try to find out what was behind this latest killing, and Daniel Ortiz tries to connect the dots in a dizzying succession of gang murders in that town. Here's that story:

For just over 3 hours, police and forensics authorities combed the scene of Jose Medina's broad daylight killing, looking for as much evidence as they could find. We're told that they found 7 expended shells in the immediate area.

Behind the police caution tape, civilians gathered, observing the victim from the distance, as they discussed what they knew of the incident, and how it had played out.

Police sources tell us that Medina was walking on Mahogany Street with his girlfriend, Lucia Luna, and he was pushing this bicycle.

They was only a few hundred feet away from his home, but he never made it to his front door.

Just after 11:00, a gunman, who is believed to have been following them, ambushed the couple and opened fire on them.

Residents say that they heard about 7 shots, and one of those bullets struck Medina in the head, killing him right where he fell. His girlfriend was injured to the abdomen area, and she was rushed to the Northern Regional Hospital for emergency surgery.

Witnesses told police that the shooter escaped in a Blue Escape SUV, which picked him up a short distance away after he fled the scene.

Medina is the latest victim in a series of gun murders that has been playing out in Orange Walk Town. Residents believe that they all are connected.

The first is Alberto Vargas who was killed in July, in what appeared to a drug buy gone wrong.

Co-incidentally, Jose Medina was there that night, and he was the one who drove Vargas to the Northern Regional Hospital, hoping to get him there in time for medical attention.

This next was Junior Triminio, who, as viewers will remember, was killed in broad daylight in August, during a crowded children's football tournament.

Then, at the end of September, Samuel Castro was shot and killed, in what was most-likely a case of mistaken identity. Some residents believe that the motorcycle riding gunman in that incident was looking for another man, known in Orange Walk as "Pebbles".

15 minutes after Castro was killed Justin Diaz, was also targeted by a gunman on motorcycle. Fortunately, he survived. And today, Jose Medina was gunned down.

All these incidents are said to be connected, as part of an internal war in the "Backatown Gang" that has emerged in Orange Walk Town.

Interestingly, Junior Triminio, Alberto Vargas, and Jose Medina, were all allegedly affiliated in the past. All 3 men were busted by police back in January of 2017 over 4.8 kilos of marijuana in the Orange Walk Village of Trial Farm.

All 3 are now deceased, and police now have to assure the public that these brazen acts of gang warfare - which they seem powerless to stop - do not threaten the public's safety.

Residents tell us that Medina moved to this house less than a month ago, and they suspect that he did this to try to stay safe. They also suspect that the cycle of retaliation that has motivated these recent murders, noted in our story, will continue.