Narcos Attack Police in Ojuelos, Jalisco

"HEARST" for Borderland Beat

Police officers were attacked by cartel hitmen in the town of Ojuelos, in the state of Jalisco. The gunbattle left a pickup truck abandoned in the middle of the road, hitmen fleeing on foot and a search throughout the town for the attackers which eventually led to the arrest of three hitmen.

The Attack

At approximately 7:45 am on January 8, 2022, a gray Dodge RAM pick-up truck with five individuals inside pulled up to the intersection of José Robledo Ramírez Street and Matamoros street in the town of Ojuelos, right outside Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe church.

Ojuelos is a small town located in the far northern part of Jalisco, almost on the border of the state of Zacatecas. It is also located near the state borders of Aguascaliente and San Luis Potosí.

Most of the state of Jalisco is controlled by the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generation (CJNG) however small pockets of area that are controlled by other groups (such as the municipalities of Teocaltiche, Villa Hidalgo, Encarnación de Díaz which are thought to be under the control of Sinaloa Cartel’s La Corona) do exist near the state borders. The cartel affiliation of the men involved in the following story was not reported by news articles. 

A nearby police patrol unit found the gray pick-up truck with the five hitmen to be suspicious and motioned for the vehicle to pull over for a stop. 

The men inside the pick-up did not comply. Instead, they pulled out firearms and began shooting towards the patrol car. A video posted to social media captured the sound of the shootout in Ojuelos.

Video Source: Balam

A female police officer was wounded in the leg by their gunfire. The officers returned fire and punctured the tires of the pick-up, immobilizing it.

The immobilized gray pick-up belonging to the hitmen.

During the chaos of the gunshots, the five hitmen managed to flee on foot, abandoning the gray pickup truck on the road. The officers relayed what occurred on radio and more patrol units were called in to search the area for the hitmen. State Police, Municipal Police and soldiers from the National Guard were all said to have deployed units to search the area in response to the attack. 

Photo of the damage taken by the patrol vehicle which tried to initiate the stop of the hitmen's vehicle.

One of the search patrols managed to locate three of the hitmen, who were hiding out inside a home located somewhere else within the town of Ojuelos. Two of the hitmen had suffered gunshot injuries from the shootout on the road and were attempting first aid on themselves when the search patrol located them. All three hitmen were arrested. The female police officer’s wound is not considered to be serious and she is expected to recover from her injury.

Photo of one of the injured hitmen, after being discovered inside a nearby home.

The two other hitmen remain at large, as of the writing of this story. 

Four firearms were seized from the vehicle and from the possession of the three detainees. One short-barrel firearm and three long barrel firearms. Photos alleged to depict the seized weapons show that two of the four firearms were AR15/M4A1-style rifles.

Sources: Official State Government Press Release, Aristegui Noticias, AM, El Occidental Article 1, Article 2, Televisa.News, Telediario, Infobae

Photo Credit: José Luis Morales, Balam, El Blog de los Guachos