Baja California’s Attorney General’s Office (FGE) announced the arrest of Ángel Alexis “N,” known by the aliases “El Vaquero” and “El Pariente,” for the killing of state police agent Silvano Méndez Aguilar. Investigators from the State Investigation Agency (AEI) detained the suspect in Tijuana’s Chapultepec Alamar neighborhood.
The suspect faces charges of premeditated homicide with treachery and advantage, along with attempted homicide. The charges stem from an April 12 attack in Tijuana’s Guaycura neighborhood, where the 35-year-old off-duty officer was shot in the chest outside a family convenience store.
Bystander Wounded in the Attack
A 52-year-old bystander, identified as María Rosario, was also wounded in the shooting. She survived, but details on her condition were not released by authorities.
Méndez Aguilar had a notable career trajectory before his death. He previously served as a personal bodyguard for the síndica (municipal trustee) of Tecate, a small city about 35 miles east of Tijuana near the U.S. border. After that assignment, he was transferred to the state’s Escuadrón Violeta, a specialized unit that handles domestic violence enforcement.
Officer Had Returned to Regular Duty
Officials determined the Tecate municipal trustee no longer faced a security risk and reassigned Méndez Aguilar to regular state police duties roughly two years and eight months before his death. At the time of the shooting, he was off duty in a residential area of Tijuana.
The arrest comes during a tense period for law enforcement in the Tijuana area. On April 9, three days before Méndez Aguilar was killed, a separate incident drew international attention when a U.S. fugitive named César Moisés Hernández fatally shot Abigael Esparza Reyes, the 33-year-old commander of Baja California’s “Gringo Hunters” unit, during an attempted arrest in Tijuana’s Barcelona Residencial subdivision. Hernández was later captured on April 17 by AEI agents in eastern Tijuana.
The FGE did not disclose a possible motive for the killing of Méndez Aguilar or say whether the suspect had ties to organized crime. The case was first reported by Jornada BC.