A Tijuana municipal police officer was shot and killed Tuesday morning in an ambush-style attack in the Otay Centenario neighborhood, a residential area near the Otay Mesa port of entry. The officer, identified only by his first name Jesús, was struck by gunfire while on patrol. He died at the scene before paramedics could intervene.
The attack occurred around 10:30 a.m. on Avenida Centenario, according to initial reports from municipal authorities. Witnesses reported hearing multiple gunshots. Armed suspects fled the area before other units arrived. Tijuana’s municipal police cordoned off the scene, and FGE (Baja California’s state attorney general’s office) took over the investigation.
At Least 11 Tijuana Officers Killed Since January 2024
The killing of Officer Jesús fits a grim and recurring pattern. Tijuana has been one of Mexico’s most dangerous cities for law enforcement for over a decade. Between January and December 2024, at least 11 municipal police officers were killed in the city, according to tracking by local media and police union representatives. Several of those killings were also ambush-style attacks, with officers targeted while on patrol or traveling to work.
Baja California Governor Marina del Pilar Avila Olmeda announced a state security strategy overhaul in late 2024, pledging closer coordination between municipal, state, and federal forces. But the attacks have continued into 2025. In March, a police officer was shot in the Sánchez Taboada delegation while responding to a domestic call. That officer survived with serious injuries.
Tijuana’s police force has struggled with recruitment and retention for years. The city’s municipal police department employs roughly 2,500 officers to serve a metro area of more than two million people. That ratio, about one officer per 800 residents, falls well below the international standard recommended by the United Nations of one per 300. Officers earn a base salary of approximately 15,000 pesos per month (about $870 USD), a figure that police unions have repeatedly called inadequate given the risk.
Organized crime groups operating in Tijuana, primarily factions of the Sinaloa Cartel and the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación, have targeted police officers as part of territorial disputes and retaliation for arrests. The Otay Centenario area where Tuesday’s shooting occurred sits in the eastern corridor of Tijuana, a zone that has seen escalating violence tied to drug trafficking routes feeding into the Otay Mesa commercial crossing.
Eastern Tijuana Corridor Sees Rising Violence Near Border Crossings
The Otay Centenario neighborhood lies roughly two kilometers south of the Otay Mesa Port of Entry, the second-busiest commercial land crossing on the U.S.-Mexico border. The area is a mix of working-class residential blocks and small commercial strips. It borders several colonias that have experienced frequent security incidents over the past 18 months.
In 2024, Tijuana recorded more than 1,500 homicides, according to data compiled by the Baja California state security secretariat. While that figure represented a slight decrease from the peak years of 2018 and 2019, when annual homicide counts exceeded 2,500, the city remains far above national averages. The eastern corridor, stretching from Otay to Mariano Matamoros, has accounted for a disproportionate share of those incidents.
Cross-border commuters who use the Otay Mesa crossing daily pass through or near the affected neighborhoods. The San Ysidro and Otay Mesa crossings together handle more than 70,000 northbound vehicle crossings per day. Residents of eastern Tijuana colonias, including some with growing numbers of American and deported binational residents, navigate these security conditions routinely.
Tuesday’s shooting did not trigger any changes to border crossing operations, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported normal wait times at Otay Mesa throughout the day. But the proximity of the attack to critical border infrastructure will likely draw attention from both Mexican and U.S. security agencies.
FGE has opened a homicide investigation and stated that it is reviewing surveillance footage from nearby businesses. No arrests have been made. Tijuana Mayor Ismael Burgueño Ruiz posted a statement Tuesday afternoon expressing condolences and pledging that the city would support the officer’s family. The next scheduled meeting of Tijuana’s municipal public safety committee is set for the first week of July. This story was first reported by El Imparcial and Cadena Noticias.