Two police officers were killed and six alleged gunmen were captured, the latest toll in a spate of gun battles this week in Michoacán, a state in western Mexico. The violence unfolded in the border zone between the municipalities of Morelia and Tarímbaro, an area that has long seen clashes tied to organized crime and drug trafficking networks.
The State Attorney General’s Office, or FGE, reported that the violence erupted late Tuesday near the residential neighborhood known as Mission Del Valle. According to the FGE, assailants armed with assault rifles attacked a group of municipal police officers. The officers, including Yonathan Jorge Pineda Guzmán and Edgar Eduardo Delgado Bedolla, were killed during the encounter. Their colleagues fought back and held their ground until reinforcements from the National Guard, the Civil Guard, and the Mexican Army could arrive to restore order.
Authorities also deployed two helicopters to secure the area and ensure the safety of ground forces. In a multi-hour operation, investigators searched several homes and documented a pattern of violence and shootings that stretched over more than three hours, raising concerns about the level of danger in the region.
By nightfall, the prosecution confirmed the arrest of six individuals believed to be gunmen. They appear to be members of the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel, or CJNG, and were found in possession of AR-15 and AK-47 rifles, pistols, and fragmentation grenades. The arrests mark another intense episode in the ongoing turf battles that have involved multiple criminal factions across the country.
Mission Del Valle is a residential subdivision established in the late 1990s, located northwest of Morelia and adjacent to Tarímbaro. The surrounding road networks have historically linked Morelia and Tarímbaro, facilitating the movement of criminal groups attempting to control illicit activities in the region, including drug production, trafficking, extortion, and kidnapping.
On Wednesday, March 22, authorities reported that gunmen raided homes in the Galaxia, Real Hacienda, and Puerta del Sol neighborhoods in Tarímbaro, about five kilometers from Mission Del Valle, resulting in the deaths of four men and one woman. On the same day, two men were abducted in Tarímbaro, and their bodies, riddled with bullets, were found along the Morelia-Salamanca federal highway. Local authorities are treating these events as part of a broader wave of violence associated with organized crime groups active in the region.
In Michoacán, several drug-trafficking outfits, including the CJNG, Cárteles Unidos, the Tepalcatepec Cartel, the Zicuirán Cartel, the Correa Cartel, and the Knights Templar, have been involved in brutal confrontations. These groups are accused of a range of crimes, from drug production and trafficking to extortion and kidnapping, as they vie for control of territories and lucrative criminal activities.