State Police Officer Murdered in Tijuana; He Was Accused of Stealing Drugs from the Tijuana Cartel

"Morogris" for Borderland Beat

The shootout occurred a few minutes before 8:00 a.m.

On Tuesday mornning, Omar Alpiza Muñoz, an agent of the Baja California Attorney General's Office (FGE) was killed by gunmen in Linda Vista, a borough in Tijuana. Reports say that Alpiza was a lead investigator in the missing persons division of the FGE.

Witnesses said they heard several firearm detonations and observed an injured man aboard a white Taurus sedan vehicle. Elements of the Tijuana Municipal Police arrived at the site to confirm the facts. They requested the presence of paramedics from the Red Cross, who confirmed the death of the agent.

At least two sicarios participated in the attack, but they were able to escape before authorities arrived at the scene. Two weapons used in the attack were found hours later in El Soler neighborhood.

Last week, cartel members tried to assassinate another state agent identified as Francisco Leyva Mariscal, who also worked with Alpizar.

In July 2015, Alpiza was singled out for leading a group of state police officers who stole a truck with drugs owned by the Tijauana Cartel and/or Arellano Félix Cartel. The robbery was caught on camera and showed the police officers taking the drug merchandise. However, the video was not presented to authorities until November of that year, and the case remained in limbo for several years and was later dropped.

José Ramón Galvan Martínez, a state police chief in the anti-drug dealing unit, was also accused of being involved. Borderland Beat reported in 2016 that Galvan and other state police officers were confiscating drugs from the cartel, not reporting these seizures to authorities, and then re-selling the drugs in Tijuana.

According to a recent report from the Citizen Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice (CCPSCJ), Tijuana is the 2nd most violent city in the world. It has 105.1 homicides for every 100,000 habitants. The data provided by the report only included cities with more than 300,000 habitants.

GRAPHIC IMAGES BELOW

Sources: Zeta Tijuana (1); (2); (3); El Mexicano; AFNTijuana; Cadena Noticias; TH3PR3D4TH0R Mxx (Images)