Two Prison Officials, Father and Son, Killed by Gang Members in Ciudad Juárez

"Morogris" for Borderland Beat (formerly "MX")

The two guards worked at the Social Reinsertion Center No. 3 (Centro de Reinserción Social Estatal No. 3, CERESO) in Ciudad Juarez.

An armed attack against two agents of the Chihuahua Security Commission (CES) took place on Horizontes del Sur neighborhood in Ciudad Juarez.

Local reports confirmed that the two victims worked as custodians at the Ciudad Juarez penitentiary. They were father and son. Their names were Jesús Flores Rivera, 36, and César Flores Carrillo, 48.

The son was transported alive from the crime scene to the nearest hospital, where he later died from his wounds. His father was killed instantly inside the vehicle. They were both on their day off.

The area where the attack occurred was cordoned off and a search was carried out for those responsible for the murder. The Secretary of Municipal Public Security, Raúl Ávila Ibarra, also went to the scene and confirmed the incident.

Responding police officers reported that neighborhood residents were the ones who reported that the sicarios were driving in a blue vehicle.

Investigator asserted that prison custodians are often rotated and have very limited interactions with the same inmates. They initially ruled out their professions as a motive but said they would wait for the Prosecutor's Office to come up with a conclusion.

Meanwhile, the District Attorney in the North Zone, Jorge Nava López, that they have recovered video recordings close to the scene and that they will work with state attorney César Augusto Peniche Espejel to determine why the two agents were killed.

Over the weekend, authorities confirmed that they arrested six (6) cartel hitmen, but they did not mention which gang they were from. Hours later in an unrelated incident, another CES agent, Karina Orozco Pereda, was murdered by her ex-husband.

Above is the Ciudad Juarez neighborhood map, as previously shown on Borderland Beat. Horizontes del Sur neighborhood, where the attack occurred, is in southern Ciudad Juarez. This neighborhood is under the control of Los Mexicles gang and is close to another sector controlled by Artistas Asesinos.

Background

In the current state administration (2016–2021), at least 84 CES agents have been attacked by gunfire throughout Chihuahua, according to figures from the Transparency Unit of the Ministry of Public Security of the State. 34 of them have been killed in the line of duty and while 74 more have been injured.

This was not the first time that prison officials in Chihuahua were killed this year.

In February, Ramón Flores Avitia, the second-in-command in Chihuahua city's prison, was ambushed by sicarios and shot dead. His entire vehicle was consumed by flames and his body was found calcinated. 

In March, Noelia Gonzalez Rodriguez, the head of Ciudad Juarez's female penitentiary, was killed outside her home in Ciudad Juarez. Police reports say that when Noelia got to her car to head to work that morning, unknown assailants walked up behind her and shot her multiple times.

Sources: Diario de Juarez (1); (2); (3); (4); (5); (6)

Background: Diario de Chihuahua; Diario de Parral; Borderland Beat archives