Teens Killed in Mexican Border State Cartel Attacks

Two separate attacks in Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, Wednesday night left three dead and another wounded. One of those killed was a 16-year-old male.

Police in Ciudad Obregón responded to a shooting report at approximately 8:50 pm in Colonia Rincón Del Valle. Upon arrival, they learned three males were shot with rifle fire by a group of gunmen who later sped away in an unspecified vehicle. The three males, one a 16-year-old, were transported to a local hospital where they eventually died.

A short time later, municipal police responded to a second attack in Colonia Nueva Palmira, where they discovered an unidentified male lying outside a residence with several gunshot wounds. The victim was transported to a local hospital and is listed in serious condition.

Investigative personnel from the state prosecutor’s office took control of both crime scenes. Ciudad Obregón is located approximately 330 miles south of Arizona and is experiencing a spike in cartel-related violence.

On Tuesday night at approximately 8:30 pm, gunmen in a passing vehicle opened fire on two 15-year-old males who were walking along a road in colonia Campanario, striking them multiple times. The juveniles were later identified as Héctor Raúl and Jared, both dead at the scene. Forensic investigative personnel from the state attorney general’s office took custody of the crime scene.

With the ongoing cartel violence in Sonora, law enforcement personnel have also come under frequent attacks. Earlier Wednesday morning, the state suffered its 14^th officer murdered in 2019 in the border city of San Luis Río Colorado.

Breitbart News recently reported when the federal government was forced to deploy a total of 1,800 Mexican National Guard personnel to the state in early July. This was ordered to help fight the escalating violence attributed to the cartel and gang turf wars between the Sinaloa Cartel and the Beltran Leyva organization’s regionally aligned gangs.

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.