Tijuana municipal police arrested five people in connection with two separate shooting incidents on Sunday, recovering firearms and stolen vehicles in both operations. The arrests took place in the colonias Camino Verde and El Florido, two neighborhoods on opposite ends of the city.
Two Shootings Within Hours in Camino Verde and El Florido
The first incident unfolded around 3:00 a.m. on Sunday when officers from the Dirección de Seguridad Ciudadana, Tijuana’s municipal public safety department, responded to reports of gunfire near the intersection of Calle Ensenada and Calle Hermosillo in Colonia Camino Verde. That neighborhood sits in Tijuana’s eastern zone, close to the Alamar industrial corridor.
When officers arrived, they found a white Nissan Sentra with visible bullet damage. Three men were detained at the scene: José de Jesús “N,” age 27; Alexis Francisco “N,” age 30; and Alejandro “N,” age 28. Police recovered a .40-caliber pistol along with five spent casings and one live round. A search of the Nissan Sentra’s license plates revealed the vehicle had been reported stolen.
The second shooting happened later that morning in El Florido, a sprawling residential area in Tijuana’s southeastern periphery near the toll road to Tecate. Officers responded to a report of gunfire along Boulevard El Refugio near the intersection with Calle Gabriel Leyva. Two men were detained: Ángel Eduardo “N,” age 25, and José Luis “N,” age 24.
At that scene, police seized a 9mm pistol, a .380-caliber pistol, one spent casing, and eight live rounds of mixed calibers. The suspects’ vehicle, a gray Chevrolet Cruze, also turned out to be stolen. Both men were turned over to the Fiscalía General del Estado (FGE), Baja California’s state attorney general’s office, for processing.
Tijuana Gun Violence Rose 12% in Early 2025
These arrests fit a pattern that has defined Tijuana’s security landscape for years. The city consistently ranks among the most violent in Mexico, with firearms involved in the vast majority of homicides. Baja California’s state government reported over 1,700 homicides statewide in 2024, and Tijuana accounted for more than half of that total.
Through the first months of 2025, Tijuana has seen a roughly 12% increase in reported shootings compared to the same period last year. Much of the violence concentrates in peripheral colonias where rapid, unplanned urbanization has outpaced police coverage. Camino Verde and El Florido both fall into that category: large, dense neighborhoods with limited street lighting and few permanent police posts.
Stolen vehicles play a recurring role in Tijuana’s crime ecosystem. Cars taken from both sides of the border are frequently used in shootings and then abandoned. The recovery of two stolen vehicles in a single morning’s operations illustrates how intertwined vehicle theft and gun violence remain. Tijuana’s municipal police reported recovering more than 4,000 stolen vehicles in 2024.
The municipal government under Mayor Ismael Burgueño has emphasized “proximity policing” as a strategy, deploying officers to fixed neighborhood beats rather than relying solely on reactive patrols. But staffing remains a challenge. Tijuana’s police force numbers roughly 3,000 officers for a metropolitan population that exceeds 2 million, a ratio well below international standards.
Eastern Tijuana Colonias See Concentrated Police Activity
Both Camino Verde and El Florido are located in Tijuana’s eastern sprawl, far from the tourist zones of Avenida Revolución and Zona Río. But the eastern colonias are home to a growing number of Americans who have relocated for lower rents. Monthly apartment costs in El Florido can run as low as 5,000 pesos (roughly $280 USD), attracting cross-border commuters who work in San Diego.
El Florido in particular has seen significant residential development over the past decade, with large housing developments built by national developers like GEO and Urbi. The neighborhood’s population has grown rapidly, but public services have lagged. Residents have reported inconsistent police presence and slow emergency response times, especially during overnight hours when both of Sunday’s incidents occurred.
Camino Verde, closer to the Alamar industrial parks, draws workers from Tijuana’s maquiladora sector. The colonia has appeared in police reports repeatedly in 2025, with at least three other firearms seizures reported there since January.
All five suspects remain in FGE custody pending formal charges. Prosecutors will determine whether to pursue charges for illegal firearms possession, vehicle theft, or attempted homicide. The investigation is ongoing, as reported by Punto Norte.