Armed Men Torch Gas Station in Michoacán

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

A gas station and vehicle were torched in Michoacan, hours after dozens of vehicles were also set on fire across multiple areas of Baja California.

Early this Saturday, August 13, an armed command set fire to a gas station established on the Zitácuaro-Ciudad Hidalgo-Morelia highway, near San Felipe de los Alzati, with no human casualties reported.
The Secretary of Public Security reported that the events occurred at approximately 01:30 AM when the gunmen aboard different vehicles and fired at the establishment.

Criminals set fire to the various islands where the fuel supply pumps are located and the facilities burst into flames in a few minutes, resulting in the total loss of the aforementioned service station located two kilometers from Zitácuaro.

In addition to the dispensing machines, a vehicle was devoured by fire. Elements of the municipal fire department of Zitácuaro appeared on the site to combat the incident and prevent the action of the fire from expanding to adjoining businesses.

Personnel from the Ministerial Police and experts attached to the Michoacán Attorney General's Office located several shell casings hit by a firearm and some other evidence at the scene, but no detainees were reported. There was also the presence of elements of the National Guard and the state police known as Fuerza Michoacán.

It is worth mentioning that this is the second attack in the same week against a gas station, since, in previous days, criminals shot against another station in Atacheo, municipality of Zamora, where a 16-year-old minor died and a teenager was injured.

The aggression was perpetrated just a few hours after violent acts were recorded in 5 of the 7 municipalities of Baja California, where at least 24 vehicles were set on fire by organized crime, and another three vehicles were reduced to ashes, again, in Celaya, in the state of Guanajuato.

Similar attacks in several other states have occurred over the last few days including this narco blockade near Tijuana.

 
In the midst of the wave of violence that shook Mexico in different entities, the Ministry of Security and Citizen Protection reported that 17 alleged perpetrators of the attacks perpetrated last Friday in the cities of Tijuana, Mexicali, Ensenada, and Playas de Rosarito were arrested. Several of the 17 are said to be members of the CJNG cartel.

On August 9, confrontations with the Mexican Army during a meeting of high-level CJNG leaders resulted in narco blockades and attacks on OXXO stores across the states of Jalisco and Guanajuato as well as in Juarez. The following day attacks attributed to the same cartel occurred in Baja California in multiple areas.

Sources Zeta Tijuana, Infobae