Ciudad Juárez: Gangs unleash violence and chaos killing 10 people including a radio announcer

• Ciudad Juárez gangs on a bloody rampage.
• At least 10 people died from gang attacks in the streets.
• The conflict started in a prison and the violence spilled out into the city.

Bloody day. A fight between drug gains inside the Ciudad Juárez prison, in Chihuahua, provoked a series of attacks in the streets of that Mexican town. As of Thursday, August 11, at least 10 people had been killed and more than 15 were reported injured, reported Agencia Reforma.

The tragic incident began around 1:00 in the afternoon, local time, when there was a riot inside the Centro de Reinserción Social (Cereso) between the Los Mexicles and Los Chapos gangs, according to the outlet.

At least 10 dead in gang attacks in the streets of Ciudad Juárez

The inmates took advantage of family visiting time to carry out the attack, which left three prisoners dead, two of them were identified as members of Los Mexicles, a criminal group that operates for the Sinaloa Cartel, according to a Agencia Reforma.

After that confrontation, at 5:00 in the evening, a series of fires and shootings broke out in at least 20 stores, Oxxos, restaurants and gas stations around Ciudad Juárez. In addition, they set fire to several trucks and vehicles to block the avenues, the report detailed.

Four radio workers, including an announcer, were killed in a wave of violence in Ciudad Juárez

The Los Mexicles gang is made up of Mexican-Americans and is involved in drug dealing and extortion. In the first attacks, it was reported that some armed men threw Molotov cocktails at a Bip Bip store owned by the Oxxo company. Two women, one of them an employee of the establishment, were killed.

Also four employees of Switch Mega Radio, among them the announcer Alan González, were murdered while doing a live broadcast outside a pizzeria, from the parking lot of a commercial plaza located on Avenida Ejército Nacional Rancho Mesteñas, in the Pradera Dorada neighborhood, according to Agencia Reforma.

There were drive-by shootings and an attack on a gas station

A group of armed men fired volleys of shots from a gray Silverado pickup truck at Mega Radio employees, and the bullets also hit several customers at Little Caesars pizzeria. In addition, four employees of the Circle K store on the corner of Bulevar Óscar Flores and Calle Juan Escutia were shot. Later, a Del Rio employee was shot at in Colonia Las Montañas, according to Agencia Reforma.

It was reported that a dispatcher was seriously injured in an attack on a gas station. In addition, the discovery of a human head was reported on the Periférico Camino Real, in the Los Ojitos property. Given the magnitude of the incident, the PAN governor of Chihuahua, Maru Campos, spoke out and indicated that she had ordered operations to restore order in Ciudad Juárez, in coordination with federal authorities. In addition, she tweeted that she deeply regretted the loss of human life in the «atrocious events» unleashed in Ciudad Juárez.

Violence to “sow panic”

The AP news agency reported that Ciudad Juárez, on the border with the United States, experienced a violent day with armed attacks against civilians and the burning of several businesses. The incidents occurred less than 48 hours after violent attacks in the central states of Jalisco and Guanajuato.

Without offering further details, the authorities of the northern state of Chihuahua indicated in a statement that several incidents were reported in Ciudad Juárez on Thursday afternoon that «are intended to destabilize and sow panic» among the public. Given these events, the three orders of government activated an operation in different neighborhoods of Ciudad Juárez involving state and municipal police, the National Guard and the Army, raccording to the AP.