A police commander in Sonora was assassinated Tuesday as he drove a personal vehicle with his two teenage sons in tow.
A group of cartel gunmen in two vehicles pulled alongside the commander at approximately 12:30 pm local time and fired multiple rifle rounds, killing him, and wounding his sons aged 16 and 14, according to local reports.
Comandante César Alejandro García Medina was traveling in the northern section of Hermosillo at the time. According to witnesses, the commander sustained numerous gunshot wounds and his 16-year-old son was struck by shards of glass. The 14-year-old reportedly received a gunshot in the abdomen. After the attack, the gunmen sped away as the commander’s vehicle came to a stop by crashing into a commercial building. The sons were able to exit the vehicle and summon help. Both were transported to a local hospital and are expected to make a full recovery. A vehicle believed to be used by the gunmen was later found abandoned and in flames several blocks from the crime scene. The state attorney general’s office is tasked with investigating Comandante’s García Medina’s murder. Numerous expended .223- and 9-mm caliber shell casing were found.
Comandante García Medina of the Hermosillo municipal police was recently assigned as commissioner in the city of the Miguel Alemán, which is located within the boundaries of Hermosillo. García Medina previously led the Tactical Operations Group (GOT) tasked with arresting dangerous and high-risk targets.
Breitbart’s Cartel Chronicles has covered a recent wave of attacks on police in Sonora, which shares a border with Arizona. Hermosillo is located 175 miles south of the U.S. and is a key region for cartels. Earlier this month, a narcotics police commander in Hermosillo was assassinated as he drove his duty SUV along a local street. Just before Easter, the commander of the tourist police in Guaymas survived a cartel attack. In February, cartel gunmen murdered a chief from a small town that borders the popular tourist port of San Carlos Bay in Guaymas. He was gunned down after leaving a downtown meeting. In October 2018, five police officers were murdered during two separate attacks also in Guaymas.
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
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