Shootout Among the Dead: Gunfight In Cemetery With Police Leaves Two Dead, Tijuana, BC

"HEARST" for Borderland Beat

During the afternoon of Thursday, September 23, 2021, a gunfight took place between members of the Municipal Police and cartel members in the streets of Nueva Aurora neighborhood of Tijuana city, in Baja California. 

Warning: Graphic photos below this point.

The AFN Version of Events. The initial reporting indicates that Municipal Police officers were driving down a road when, at approximately 6:00 pm, they were approached by a sedan-type vehicle and the people on board the vehicle opened fire on the police patrol vehicle. 

The Municipal Police officers responded to the attack, which led to a shootout between the two groups. Then the shootout devolved into a chase which ultimately ended in cemetery #9, when two of the cartel members were shot dead and two others decided to surrender. 

The two who surrendered were arrested by the officers. Reportedly no police officers were killed or injured in the incident. Later, various members of the Army, National guard and State Attorney General’s office arrived on scene to help with cordoning off the area and process the evidence. 

The Zeta Tijuana Version of Events. Municipal police were dispatched to the reported area and officers observed a black pick up truck, with three men on board who were carrying long barrel and short barrel firearms. 

When the armed men noticed the officers surveilling them, they began to shoot at in their direction. The police repelled the aggression and killed two subjects, one of them fell dead between the graves of the cemetery. Another fell dead near a car parked on the street.

Previous Attack

This incident is quite similar to an attack that occurred earlier this month in this same cemetery #9, in the Nueva Aurora neighborhood of Tijuana city. In the afternoon of September 14, 2021, in the Nueva Aurora neighborhood, Tijuana police intelligence agents were shot at by cartel members. After the gunfight in Nueva Aurora, an operation was launched in nearby neighborhoods such as Loma Bonita and a second confrontation occurred. 

This second gunfight concluded in the arrest of an attacker named Luis, who is 27 years old. He is suspected of having been one of the men who shot at the intelligence agents of the Tijuana municipal police earlier. 

Authorities from the Baja California Security Table revealed to ZETA that the alleged assailant Luis has a record that links him to three criminal acts: one for misdemeanors for carrying a sharp weapon, another for damage to property belonging to others and another for crimes against health.

The Nueva Aurora neighborhood falls within the San Antonio de Los Buenos area of Tijuana. Just recently, on September 11, 2021, there was an unusual spike in the percent of homicides perpetrated in San Antonio de Los Buenos. Of the eight homicides discovered in Baja California on September 11, three of them occurred in San Antonio de Los Buenos. 

So which cartel was likely involved in this shooting? Details about who controls the San Antonio de Los Buenos area are not definitive. However it is worth mentioning that according to a 2020 Zeta Tijuana article about the arrest of Ricardo Martínez Gutiérrez alias “El Pilas”, he was considered to be one of the main generators of violence in the San Antonio de Los Buenos area. El Pilas belonged to the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG). 

Sources: Zeta Tijuana, El Mexicano, AFN Tijuana, Alfredo Alvarez

Previous Incident: Zeta Tijuana- Sept 14, Zeta Tijuana - El Pilas