Sinaloa Cartel’s War Against Police in Los Pinos, Tijuana

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Security at the crime scene of the July 5, 2021 shooting of Municipal Police.

Three July 2021 attacks against police officers are believed to be a part of an escalating war between a Sinaloa Cartel group and the Municipal Police force in the Los Pinos delegation of Tijuana, Baja California.

José Alberto Murillo Altamirano alias “El Pula” is believed to lead the criminal group behind the attacks. His group works under Sinaloa Cartel’s Los Uriartes which is led by José Luis Mendoza Uriarte, alias "El Güero Chompas", and it has been operating in the Los Pinos delegation of Tijuana for more than a decade.

March 18 - 20, 2021

Witnesses alleged that El Pula was involved in the kidnapping, torture and murder of a Settepi (personal transport bus company) driver who Pula believed was working for the Cartel Jalisco New Generation (CJNG). Following the driver’s death, he was crudely dismembered by cartel members. His head and arms were placed inside a suitcase while his torso and legs were placed inside a metal tub.

The Settepi bus containing dismembered remains abandoned March 2021.

Both the metal tub and the suitcase were put in the back of the driver’s truck. The bus was then abandoned at the dirt parking lot of the Margarito Saldaña police station on March 19. It wasn’t until March 20 that police opened the back of the abandoned truck and discovered the human remains inside.

March 20, 2021

Following the truck discovery, Municipal Police officer Abel Medina Sánchez responded to an incident report in the Terrazas del Valle neighborhood. His arrival at the incident location prompted a black SUV to flee the area which led Officer Medina Sánchez to chase after it in his vehicle. This chase eventually gave way to a shootout where Officer Medina Sánchez died due to gunshot wounds. 

Officer Abel Medina Sánchez.

June 13, 2021

District Police Chief Francisco Guadalupe Corona García and his bodyguard Officer Lucero Margarita Flores Rivera were on patrol in the Villa del Alamo neighborhood in Los Pinos delegation. According to the police report obtained by ZETA Tijuana Weekly, their patrol car was approached from behind by armed men who opened fire on them. Both Police Chief Corona and Officer Flores were injured in the attack. 

June 14, 2021

Three suspects believed to have been involved in the shooting of Police Chief Corona and Officer Flores  were arrested. However none of the three men were brought up on charges related to the June 13 shooting due to insufficient evidence of their involvement. Two of the men were released without charges despite having been arrested either in the possession of a firearm or large quantities of drugs for distribution. The third man was brought up on a minor drug charge and has already been released from custody.

June 30, 2021

José Alberto Murillo Altamirano alias "El Pula" was arrested by Tijuana Municipal Police. The municipal police coordinated with the State Attorney General’s Office in order to collect enough evidence to be granted an arrest warrant for El Pula by a judge on charges of homicide for the March 18 2021 homicide of the Settepi driver.

El Pula is in his twenties. He has a criminal record that extends back to his adolescent years which lists charges of homicide, armed robbery and drug trafficking. For homicides he committed as a minor, he served short periods of time in juvenile detention.

July 4, 2021

Municipal police officers were patrolling on Punta Arenas street in Colonia 3 de Octubre, Tijuana when they were ambushed and shot up by unknown assailants at least 20 times with .223 caliber ammunition. The bullets came from the direction of a vacant parking lot in the area. Officer Rubén Mondragón Aguilar sustained a gunshot wound to the head and Officer Jose Gabriel Gomez Hinojosa sustained a gunshot wound to the legs. The officers sped up their vehicle in order to escape the line of fire.

Vehicle damage from the July 4, 2021 attack.

According to records obtained by ZETA, at 9:24pm, the shooting was reported over police radio. It was requested that all available units on duty in the nearby delegations respond to the shooting as there were officers injured by firearms at the location. When the injured officer’s patrol vehicle made it to Las Palomas street they were joined by officers who had come to reinforce them and the two injured were able to be transported to receive medical attention.

Aftermath of the July 4, 2021 attack on Municipal Police.

July 5, 2021

A police patrol vehicle driving on Punta Arenas street in Colonia 3 de Octubre was shot at by unknown assailants and Officer Jonas Reyes Gonzalez sustained gunshot injuries with penetrating wounds to the right side of his chin and left foot. Surveillance video of the moment when two hitmen prepared and then shot this patrol vehicle was later uploaded to social media.

Two other officers inside the vehicle called up the shooting on radio at 1:00pm and it was, again, requested that all available units on duty respond to the shooting as there were officers injured by firearms at the location.

The two other officers then tried to drive Officer Reyes Gonzalez to the hospital but their patrol vehicle had sustained so many bullet impacts from the shooting that it broke down in Jardines de la Mesa neighborhood. An ambulance was able to travel to their location and transport Officer Reyes Gonzalez to receive medical treatment.

The police vehicle that broke down from bullet impacts on July 5, 2021.

ZETA Tijuana Weekly reports that the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protections (SSPCM) believes the Los Uriartes group that followed El Pula is behind the July 4 and 5, 2021 attacks. The SSPCM believes the attacks are being made in retaliation for the arrest of their leader, El Pula.

Tijuana’s Los Pinos Delegation Cartel Landscape

The Los Pinos delegation comprises around 13 residential complexes which include Los Pinos, Villas de Baja California, Villas de Alcazar, Delicias 1, 2 and 3; Hacienda Los Venados, Villas del Campo, Natura, Ke Casas and Los Valles.

"The attraction of this zone, and why they are fighting for control, is that it is an extensive, densely populated and low-income territory. There are a lot of captive consumers, because the opportunities are very limited in social and human development. Few parks, small houses; it is a good market for drug traffickers," said one source to ZETA Tijuana in 2018.

The source added that there is a general absence of police authorities comparatively. The remoteness of the area makes it a no man's land. "Practically in those places they are fighting private against private. On one street there is a 'tiendita' leader and on the other street the opposite one. They are pressuring each other.”

Currently Los Pinos delegation is primarily controlled by Los Uriartes, which is led by the aforementioned José Luis Mendoza Uriarte, alias "El Güero Chompas". Specifically El Pula was in charge of crime in the Los Pinos and El Florido districts for Los Uriartes. El Pula had previously been named as a priority target by Tijuana law enforcement by the Security Coordination Table.

Other groups with a presence in Los Pinos delegation include a Cártel Arellano Félix (CAF) group serving Los Chapitos led by David Lopez Jimenez, alias “El Lobo”, and a CJNG group led by Rodolfo Lopez Arellano alias “Cabo 30”.

ZETA Tijuana Sources Referenced: Los Uriarte Attack Policemen, Drug Dealers War, "El Güero Chompas" Falls in Sinaloa, Six operators of "El Güero Chompas" murdered on October 3

Other Sources: La Jornada, El Sol de Tijuana, El Imparcial Article 1, Article 2, Article 3, Cadena Noticias