Mexico City ? Mexico’s acting federal police chief was shot dead early Thursday outside his home in Mexico City – a brazen attack as drug traffickers increasingly lash back at a nationwide crackdown on organized crime.

Edgar Millan Gomez was shot 10 times after opening the door to his Mexico City apartment complex, where at least one gunman was waiting for him before dawn, the Public Safety Department said. Two bodyguards were also wounded. Millan died hours later at a hospital.

President Felipe Calderon’s government said Millan had played a vital role in the country’s fight against organized crime and denounced “this cowardly killing of an exemplary official.”