Soldiers: Mexico beauty queen had gun in her hands

(AP) Mexican soldiers say beauty queen Maria Susana Flores Gamez had a gun in her hands when she was killed in a hail of gunfire over the weekend.

A federal official says soldiers described the confrontation in a military report. The official had access to the report but is not authorized to be quoted by name.

The report says the gunmen she was traveling with lined up behind Flores Gamez as they descended from vehicles and shot it out with soldiers, suggesting she may have been used as a human shield.

The federal official said Tuesday that investigators were still awaiting tests to determine whether she fired the assault rifle found near her body.

Two other gunmen were killed in the hours-long gunbattle Saturday in the northern state of Sinaloa.