A police officer who had arrested the son of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman last month, before he was released, has been shot at 155 times in a shopping centre car park in Mexico.

The brutal attack happened in the Las Moras neighbourhood in Culiacan, Sinaloa - a city notorious for gang and drug-related violence, and the home of El Chapo's notorious Sinaloa Cartel.

CCTV shows two attackers pulling up next to a white Nissan in the car park, before getting out and shooting at the police officer, then running back into their vehicle and driving off.

Image: The attack happened at a shopping centre in the city

It is not clear whether the officer was on duty, and the whole attack lasted around 30 seconds.

Police identified the officer involved as Eduardo, and said he joined the force six years ago.


The police force confirmed the death on its Facebook page, saying: "The secretary of public security of the state, regrets the death of the active [officer] of the... state police, Eduardo, who lost his life this Wednesday in the [city]."

Sinaloa police added that it was sending condolences to the family of the victim.

Forensics on the scene found 155 bullets on the ground when they arrived, shortly after the attack.

According to the force that Eduardo worked for, he was involved in the capture, and the subsequent release, of Ovidio Guzman in October - the son of the now jailed drug lord El Chapo.

Ovidio Guzman's arrest triggered huge gunfights in Culiacan, Mexico. Police were later forced to release him.

He is wanted for drug trafficking offences in the US.

Guzman's people took to the streets of Culiacan shortly after the raid on his compound, causing chaos by burning vehicles and driving armoured cars around the city - threatening to fire at civilians.

The violence prompted authorities to quickly release Guzman - a decision which was widely criticised.

Security minister Alfonso Durazo said: "The decision was taken to retreat from the house, without Guzman, to try to avoid more violence in the area and preserve the lives of our personnel and recover calm in the city."

According to the minister, around 30 members of the national guard were fired at from a house containing Guzman.

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Mexico's president, Mr Obrador, said the decision to set free the drug baron's son was "the right thing to do".

He added: "If we were to impose our will by force we would've needed back-up of about 2,000 to 3,000 forces and we would've needed to shoot machine guns from helicopters and we had all the information they were willing to shoot civilians."