A Tijuana judge formally charged a suspect on April 23 in the killing of a state security officer who was executed after he refused to let a criminal group sell drugs from his small business in Colonia Guaycura.
Ángel Alexis, known by the alias “El Vaquero,” faces charges of homicide and attempted homicide in the April 12 shooting death of Silvano Méndez Aguilar, a 35-year-old officer with the Fuerza Estatal de Seguridad Ciudadana (FESC), Baja California’s state security force. Prosecutors told the court that a criminal organization had targeted Méndez Aguilar’s grocery store and illegal mini-casino in Colonia Guaycura as a drug distribution point. When he refused the arrangement, gunmen shot him outside his shop.
Suspect Slept Through His Own Hearing
El Vaquero was arrested on April 18, six days after the killing. He appeared at the April 23 hearing via Zoom from La Mesa prison in Tijuana, where he reportedly slept through most of the proceedings. The judge ordered preventive detention and gave prosecutors three months to complete a complementary investigation.
A second suspect, described as a man between 50 and 55 years old, remains unidentified and at large. Authorities have not released further details about the ongoing search.
Victim Led Double Life as Officer and Business Owner
Méndez Aguilar served as a member of Escuadrón Violeta, a FESC unit that handles gender-based violence cases. He had also recently worked as a bodyguard for a Tecate city official. Outside his law enforcement career, he ran the grocery store and mini-casino where the criminal group attempted to establish its drug sales operation.
The shooting also wounded a female flea-market vendor who was nearby when the attack occurred. She has been recognized in the case as an attempted homicide victim. Prosecutors allege El Vaquero shot her after she witnessed the killing.
Criminal Pressure on Small Businesses
The case is a stark example of how criminal organizations in Tijuana pressure small business owners into cooperating with drug operations at the street level. Colonia Guaycura sits in the southern part of Tijuana, a residential area where small shops and informal markets line the streets. Business owners in similar neighborhoods across the city have long faced extortion and forced partnerships with drug traffickers.
Tijuana, a city of more than 2.1 million people, regularly records around 2,000 homicides per year. The killing of Méndez Aguilar adds to a pattern of violence targeting both law enforcement personnel and civilians caught in the crossfire of cartel turf battles.
This story was first reported by Punto Norte.