Tijuana Sees 2,242 Murders So Far in 2018

The cartel violence in Tijuana continues with 16 homicides registered over the weekend, bringing the total for 2018 to at least 2,242.

Tijuana continues to add to its record-breaking murder count thanks to a raging cartel war as it deals with the migrant caravans arriving daily. According to statistics compiled by the state attorney general’s office and local media reports, the city has registered at least 2,242 killings this year, smashing the previous record high established in 2017 with 1,780. In November, the total reached at least 157.

Tijuana Mayor Juan Manuel Gastélum Buenrostro was forced to declare a humanitarian crisis late last week and slammed Mexico City’s response in dealing with a migrant caravan now overwhelming local government resources, Breitbart News reported. Tijuana was forced to deploy valuable security resources to the temporary migrant shelter area as the city grapples with the ongoing cartel war. More than 5,000 caravan migrants flooded the city with more promised to arrive shortly.

The most recent killings in the city of Tijuana are as follows.

A triple execution was reported at approximately 5:49 am in colonia Lomas Verdes Sunday morning. Citizens claimed hearing multiple gunshots and called emergency personnel. First responders discovered three male victims deceased from gunshot wounds to their heads.

At approximately 7:10 am, investigators from the state attorney general’s office responded to a canal next to the Tijuana River in colonia Empleados Federales, where they discovered a corpse abandoned in the sewer system.

Just after midnight on Monday morning, police found a deceased male victim abandoned on a public road in colonia Sánchez Taboada. The victim was identified as Javier Cerda Luna, 33. No arrests were reported, according to local media.

At approximately 1:31 am, police responded to colonia Real de San Francisco where they discovered a deceased male left in a roadway who appeared to be beaten and shot in the head, according to local media.

Early Monday morning, police responded to a shooting in colonia Playas de Tijuana near a school as parents were dropping off their children. One male victim reportedly died from gunshot wounds, according to reports from municipal police.

Robert Arce is a retired Phoenix Police detective with extensive experience working Mexican organized crime and street gangs. Arce has worked in the Balkans, Iraq, Haiti, and recently completed a three-year assignment in Monterrey, Mexico, working out of the Consulate for the United States Department of State, International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Program, where he was the Regional Program Manager for Northeast Mexico (Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Durango, San Luis Potosi, Zacatecas.)