A nine-year-old girl was injured and her father shot dead after gunmen stormed the home in Sinaloa, Mexico amid an escalating conflict between rival drug cartel factions
A man has been shot dead and his nine-year-old daughter injured after a gang of cartel hitmen ambushed his home.
Gunmen broke into the house in Sinaloa, Mexico and fired multiple shots on Thursday amid an escalating war between rival drug cartel factions in the region. Authorities said the gang’s target, Luis Elías, died at the scene from gunshot wounds. His daughter was hit by a bullet in her left leg. Police officers and ambulance crews raced to the scene in the city of Culiacan after neighbours raised the alarm just after 8.00pm local time, with the young girl taken to hospital.
Forensic experts from the Attorney General’s Office of the State of Sinaloa (FGE) later scoured the scene for evidence and found large-calibre gun casings scattered around the home, suggesting that the attackers used high-powered firearms. Detectives meanwhile found an abandoned pickup truck near the scene of the incident, with its doors open. It has been seized as part of the investigation to determine whether it is connected to the shooting.
Police have not yet released a motive for the attack, though the wider region has recently been rocked by violent clashes between La Mayiza and Los Chapitos, two rival factions of the Sinaloa Cartel.
As many as 1,000 people are thought to be either dead or missing since the clashes broke out in September following the capture of two key cartel leaders, Joaquín Guzmán López (son of El Chapo) and Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada. Relatives of Zambada and El Chapo’s sons have been vying for control of the highly lucrative drug trafficking routes controlled by the cartel. Last week, the Sinaloan regional government’s secretary of state security, Ricardo Jenny del Rincón, said 33 children had been murdered since the beginning of the fighting.
In January, residents took to the streets of Culiacan to demand action after the killing of nine-year-old Alexander and his 12-year-old brother Gael, who were shot dead in the city along with father Antonio Sarmiento. The protesters marched from the boy’s school to the offices of the regional government, where a tearaway group smashed windows and caused some property damage.
A group of children meanwhile made banners with slogans such as “I want to live, not survive.” In the wake of the march, a spokesperson for Sinaloa governor Ruben Rocha vowed to set up a task force to investigate the murders.
