Mexican TV Actress Dies During Robbery
The Associated Press
Friday, April 29, 2005; 10:52 PM
MEXICO CITY -- Popular Mexican television actress Mariana Levy died on Friday of a heart attack after a man armed with a pistol approached her van on a Mexico City street.
Levy, 39, appeared on the Nuestra Casa show on the Televisa network. She started her career as a singer in the 1980s, and later went on to appear in more than a dozen soap operas.
In this undated photo provided by Televisa, Mexican TV actress Mariana Levy performs during a soap opera. Levy died on Friday, April 29, 2005 of a heart attack after an assailant approached her on a Mexico City street and tried to rob her watch. (AP Photo/Televisa) (Televisa - AP)
"We cannot feel anything other than an enormous rage and indignation," Televisa news anchor Adela Micha said of Levy's death. "Even if a bullet didn't kill her, the fear and the lack of public safety did."
A man was arrested and later identified by Levy's husband as the man who approached the vehicle, in which the couple was taking several children to a local amusement park.
Another witness said the man had earlier approached his car and tried to rob him, according to local prosecutor Carlos Gurrea.
But Gurrea noted the suspect _ who was being held on suspicion of illegal weapons possession _ did not apparently directly threaten or make any contact with Levy.
The mere shock of seeing him approach the vehicle apparently triggered the attack.
"He never threatened them ... there was no physical or verbal contact," Guerrea said of the man, who has a previous record for robbery and auto theft. Earlier reports had said the man had tried to rob Levy of her watch.
Citing Levy's husband, Jose Maria Fernandez Jr., Gurrea said the children in the van began screaming and his wife began having trouble breathing when they saw the man with the pistol.
He took her to a nearby clinic, where she died.
The death shook the Mexican entertainment world. It was one of the highest-profile deaths in Mexico's persistent wave of common crime since television comedian Francisco "Paco" Stanley was gunned down alongside a Mexico City freeway in 1999.
Levy, the daughter of television news personality Talina Fernandez, appeared in soap operas including "Rosa Salvaje," and most recently "Amor Real."
Besides her husband, Levy is survived by her three children.