A total of nine people were murdered in less than 24 hours in Tijuana this weekend. Another kidnapping gang was arrested while a victim was rescued in the process.
The state attorney general’s office is reporting that at least 155 people were murdered in the month of May with the total for year 2018 reaching 910 as of late Sunday, according to local media reports.
The killings began on Saturday morning, May 26, in colonia Cañadas del Florido at 7:28 am when the deceased body of a 22-year-old victim identified as Juan Antonio Prado was discovered.
At 10:45 am, police responded to colonia Los Valles where they found a 28-year-old male dead from a gunshot wound.
Later in the afternoon at 1:34 pm, a 39-year-old male victim was found dead from multiple stab wounds in colonia Emperadores.
At 2:54 pm in Zona Centro, a 28-year-old male victim was found deceased from multiple gunshot wounds.
At 8:54 pm in colonia Mexico Lindo, emergency personnel responded to a report of a male down who was later identified as 42-year-old who was shot in the head. Several minutes later, he was pronounced dead at the scene from a single wound.
At 10:55 pm, a 48-year-old victim was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead from a gunshot wound to the head.
On Sunday morning May 27, at 1:30 am, the body of an unidentified male of approximately 45 years of age was found dead in colonia Hipódromo from blunt force trauma to his head.
Minutes later, the body of a male victim was found dead from a gunshot wound to the head in colonia Las Delicias at 1:40 am.
At 3:10 am in colonia Las Delicias, a 41-year-old victim was found dead from multiple stab wounds.
The violence is attributed to a resurgence of Cártel de Los Arellano Félix, which is now operating under the name of Cártel Tijuana Nueva Generación (CTNG). The group aligns itself with El Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación. The groups are engaged in a turf dispute with the Sinaloa Cartel.
On late Friday, May 25, the state attorney general’s office announced the release of a single kidnapping victim held against his will since May 22. Agents from the special anti-kidnapping unit carried out an operation on Friday afternoon in colonia Costa Hermosa that resulted in the arrests of seven suspects and the seizure of a weapon, according to local reporting.
On May 25, Breitbart Texas reported on five suspects arrested for the May 18 armed kidnapping of a local businessman. The alleged kidnappers posed as police in two pickup trucks equipped with strobe lights.
According to the state attorney general’s office, the anti-kidnapping unit was able to successfully free two victims and arrest 12 kidnapping suspects last week.
Robert Arce is a retired Phoenix Police detective with extensive experience working Mexican organized crime and street gangs. Arce has worked in the Balkans, Iraq, Haiti, and recently completed a three-year assignment in Monterrey, Mexico, working out of the Consulate for the United States Department of State, International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Program, where he was the Regional Program Manager for Northeast Mexico (Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Durango, San Luis Potosi, Zacatecas.) You can follow him on Twitter. He can be reached at robertrarce@gmail.com
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.