Police officer Eduardo Triana Sandoval, 32, was murdered by two unknown gunmen outside a shopping center in Culiacán, Sinaloa, Wednesday night moments after he had finished his shift

A Mexican police officer killed in an ambush acted as a lookout to spot cartel gunmen patrolling the streets on the day El Chapo's son was arrested.

Eduardo Triana Sandoval, 32, was murdered by two unknown gunmen outside a shopping center in Culiacán, Sinaloa, Wednesday night moments after he had finished his shift.

Local media outlets reported the fallen cop played a role in the foiled attempt to nab Ovidio Guzmán López.

But Cristóbal Castañeda Camarillo, chief of Sinaloa Secretariat of Security and Civilian Protection, said that Triana Sandoval and other members of the state police were not participants in the raid.

Castañeda Camarillo revealed that Triana Sandoval was not scheduled to work October 17 when he presented himself for duty at the state police command center in Culiacán after news broke of a war-like battle between an armed wing of the Sinaloa Cartel and the military near Guzmán López's home in the Tres Ríos neighborhood.

The official added that Triana Sandoval accompanied him to the Aguaruto Penitentiary, where 49 inmates had escaped from as chaos engulfed Culiacán.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

Local media outlets reported the fallen cop (pictured) played a role in the foiled attempt to nab Ovidio Guzmán López but the Sinaloa state police said he and other department agents responded to reports of inmates fleeing a prison and armed gang members patrolling the streets of Culiacán on October 17

A Mexican police officer in Sinaloa state was gunned down on Wednesday in a hail of bullets

Triana Sandoval was also part of a unit that was dispatched to several areas where Sinaloa Cartel armed fighters were spotted patrolling the streets before the gang put down its weapons and retreated.

'He did not participate directly, just as no element of the state police participated in the operation that the federal authorities have carried out on the subject that you all know,' Castañeda Camarillo said.

'The participation of the authorities of the state of Sinaloa was to respond to the different reports on the presence of armed people in different parts of the city. So, this unit element did not participate directly in any detention on the 17th.'

CCTV captured the horrifying moment when at least two armed men with semiautomatic rifles climbed out of a red car and opened fire at a white Nissan four-door sedan.

The ambush took less than 30 seconds as the gunmen used an AR-15 and AK-47 to fired at least 150 bullets into the white vehicle.

The red car had followed the white car into the parking lot of a shopping center in Culiacán, the capital of the state of Sinaloa.

Triana Sandoval joined the police force six years ago and was a member of the Elite Force.

He also served on the security detail team assigned to guard the deputy secretary of the Sinaloa Secretariat of Security and Civilian Protection.

His friend Gabriel Santos told DailyMail.com that 'bravery' was one of his virtues' that the made him stand out.

Triana Sandoval joined the police force six years ago and was a member of the Elite Force

This October 17, 2019, frame grab from video provided by the Mexican government shows Ovidio Guzmán López at the moment of his detention, in Culiacán, Mexico

At least two men armed with semiautomatic rifles fired 155 bullets into a white Nissan parked near a shopping center in the Sinaloa city of Culiacán

Closed circuit television images captured the scene in which the armed men drove up to the white Nissan in a red car

The armed men are seen getting out of the red vehicle and opening fire almost immediately at the white Nissan

The ambush on Wednesday evening at the shopping center took less than 30 seconds

Authorities are investigating whether the two men, who remain at-large, carried out the killing in response to Triana Sandoval's limited role the day soldiers failed to arrest Guzmán López.

Triana Sandoval lived in the town of Costa Rica, where armed men took over a highway toll both to distract law enforcement agents.

Mexican security forces had Guzmán López outside a house on his knees against a wall before they were forced to back off and let him go as his cartel's gunmen shot up the Culiacán.

Defense Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval last week showed video and presented a timeline of the failed operation to arrest Guzmán López - an incident that embarrassed the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

The video shot by soldiers shows Guzmán López exit the house with his hands up.

Soldiers order him to call off the attacks around the city as gunfire is heard in the background.

Guzmán López called his brother Archivaldo Iván Guzmán Salazar on his cellphone and told him to stop the chaos.

The Mexican government released video footage of the failed arrest of Ovidio Guzmán López's October 17 (pictured)

Cartel leader Iván Archivaldo Guzmán ordered an all-out attack on the Mexican military after they surrounded his brother's house

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (left) defended the decision to release Guzmán López (right), saying he was protecting civilian lives

Archivaldo Guzmán refused and shouted threats against the soldiers and their families.

The attacks continued and eight minutes later the first wounded soldiers were reported.

Archivaldo Guzmán surely knew at that point that the cartel had the upper hand and ordered his men to stand down after Guzmán López was released.

Thirteen people were killed in gun battles around the city.

Officials in Mexico City ultimately ordered security forces to withdraw four hours after the operation began to avoid more bloodshed.

Mexico's Public Safety Secretary Alfonso Durazo said that the aborted operation to arrest Guzmán Lopez was a 'hasty action' that deserves criticism - but the details revealed that the arrest had been in the works for more than a week.

The government's timeline of events showed that the U.S. government requested Guzmán López's arrest for extradition on September 13, and on October 9 a special Mexican army anti-drug unit traveled from Mexico City to Culiacán to prepare.

Authorities were still in the process of obtaining a search warrant when the operation began on October 17 outside a large home where Guzmán López had been located.

A cartel member carrying a grenade launcher to fight the army in Culiacán on October 17 after violence erupted over the attempted arrest of El Chapo's son

A body is seen laying on the street after the deadly gun battle. Culiacán exploded in violence with armed cartel members in trucks roaring through the city's streets shooting at soldiers with machine guns

Northwestern Mexico was turned into a war zone as a result of a gun battle between armed cartel members and Mexican law enforcement

As they moved on the house, gunmen began attacking those involved in the operation.

Sandoval said that once lawmen came under attack, the search warrant was no longer needed.

What seemed clear was that once the operation started, government forces were quickly outmaneuvered by the Sinaloa cartel.

Military planners had four additional teams forming an outer security ring for the operation, but the cartel's gunmen cut off the routes for three of them preventing additional support from arriving.

Ovidio Guzmán López (left), along with his brothers, is believed to be a leader in the Sinaloa Cartel ran by his father, Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán, (right), before he was jailed in the US

A burnt vehicle is seen across the street from a soccer stadium in Culiacán, Mexico, a day after armed gunmen waged an all-out assault against the Mexican military

Dozens of bullet casings litter the sidewalk in Mexico, a day after heavily armed gunmen attacked the military and forced the released of El Chapo's son

A video captures the moment cartel members took to the streets with machine guns and grenade launchers in an attempt to stop the arrest of El Chapo's son

Meanwhile, the cartel sent convoys of gunmen to several military installations around the city to attack soldiers and their families.

At one military housing block, a sergeant ushered children who were playing outside to safety, but he was taken hostage.

In all, two officers and nine soldiers were taken hostage by the cartel, according to Sandoval.

The bulk of them were providing security for two fuel tanker convoys at a toll plaza on the outskirts of the city.

Sandoval said soldiers estimated that 150 gunmen in 30 vehicles arrived.

Once Guzmán López was released, all the military personnel were let go and the team that had captured him left.

It was unclear was who was negotiating with cartel during the confrontation.

Sandoval said that the leader of the team with Guzmán López was offered $3million to let him go, but refused and was then told the cartel would kill him and his family.