Five Police Officers Shot To Death In Central Mexico

"Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat

David, Victor, Ezequiel, and José Arturo

Four municipal agents and a highway police officer were shot to death in two separate events in the central state of Guanajuato, considered the most violent in Mexico, state authorities reported Thursday. With these deaths there are already seven uniformed officers killed in the last hours in the country.

The first incident took place on Wednesday night in the town of Santa María del Refugio where the police officers were carrying out patrol work and were attacked in the middle of a road by armed individuals.

Four police officers from the municipality of Celaya died in the event, the municipal Citizen Security Secretariat said in a statement.

After the attack, the police authorities, the National Guard and the army activated an operation in the area to try to locate those responsible. The state Attorney General's Office opened an investigation into the incident.

In another event that occurred on Thursday in the vicinity of the Juan Pablo II axis of the municipality of Celaya, a highway police officer was shot dead, reported the Secretariat of Citizen Security.

Guanajuato, an agricultural and industrial center, has become the most violent state in the country due to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel's fight against local criminal groups, including the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel, which apparently receives support from the Cartel de Sinaloa.

It also has the highest number of police murders in Mexico, with around 60 deaths in 2023, according to figures from the local civil organization Causa en Común, which investigates and promotes public policies on security.

Across Mexico, 412 police officers were murdered last year, an increase of around 2% compared to 2022.

The murder of the five police officers occurred a few hours after the location in the tourist municipality of Taxco of the shot bodies of two police officers from the Attorney General's Office of the southern state of Guerrero.

The two agents had been reported missing since Tuesday when they went to the municipality of Pilcaya to carry out an investigation and communication with them was lost.

According to local media, both showed signs of torture.

In October, 12 police officers and the Secretary of Public Security of the coastal municipality of Coyuca de Benitez were shot to death in an ambush in the town of El Papayo, in the state of Guerrero.

On the other hand, police authorities located four bodies inside a vehicle with taxi identification on Thursday in a neighborhood on the outskirts of the Mexican capital.

The discovery was made in the municipality of Valle de Chalco, state of Mexico, where municipal police found two bodies in the back seat of the car and two others in the trunk, the state Security Secretariat said in a statement. Authorities presume that the four people were executed in Mexico City and then abandoned in the neighboring state.

The state Attorney General's Office moved to the scene to remove the bodies and begin investigations.

Víctor Acevedo Castro

Ezequiel Del Ángel Hernández

David Isabel López Aguirre

José Arturo Ramírez Martínez

Santa María del Refugio, Guanajuato 

Juan Pablo II neighborhood 

Celaya, Guanajuato 

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