Acting Mexican police chief killed outside his home

Cartels have responded fiercely to the nationwide offensive, killing soldiers and federal police in unprecedented attacks. Until recently, most of those killings took place in northern Mexico, where drug gangs rule large areas. Now, criminals appear to be getting more brash with slayings in the capital.

George Grayson, a Mexico expert at the College of William & Mary in Virginia, said Millan's death "shows the increasing audacity of the cartels."

"This happened in Mexico City where people like Millan tend to be quite cautious, often sleeping in different houses on different nights, and who have their own security patrols," he said. "When you can get someone like this, no one is safe."

Millan was the second top Mexican police official killed in less than a week in Mexico City, following the May 2 killing of a federal police intelligence analyst in an apparent armed robbery attempt outside his home.

In January, police in Mexico City arrested three men with assault rifles and grenade launchers who were allegedly planning to assassinate Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, a top prosecutor who oversees the extradition of drug traffickers.

Millan had been involved in solving a number of high-profile kidnappings.

In 2000, he helped to capture one of Mexico's most feared kidnappers, Andres Caletri, and to disband two notorious abduction rings. In 2001, he was named head of anti-kidnapping operations for the Federal Agency of Investigation, Mexico's version of the FBI.

Under his direction, agents captured five suspects involved in the abduction of Ruben Omar Romano, the coach of Mexico's Cruz Azul soccer team in 2005.

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Associated Press writer Julie Watson in Mexico City contributed to this report.