A ministerial police agent and administrative assistant for the Chihuahua State Prosecutor’s Office were shot and killed by suspected cartel gunmen while traveling in an unmarked vehicle in Ciudad Juarez on January 16, 2018. The city shares the same border with the sanctuary city of El Paso, Texas.

According to El Diario Mexicano, the victims were identified as ministerial police agent Arturo Ledezma Porras, 57, and Saúl Flores Lares, 25, an administrative assistant in the prosecutor’s office. Both were traveling in a 2013 Chevrolet Malibu and were waiting at a stop light when they were fired upon by gunmen in a Ford F-150 which positioned itself directly to the front of the victim’s vehicle in the opposite passenger’s side lane. Agent Ledezma Porras attempted to speed away but came to a stop approximately 200 meters away after crashing into a cement block. Flores-Lares, who was seated in the front passenger seat, also died.

Investigators believe that the actual intended victim was Ulises Pacheco Rodriguez, the supervisory coordinator for the ministerial police and close confidant to Chihuahua state governor, Javier Corral Jurado. Ministerial police agent Ledezma Porras was Pacheco Rodriguez’s head bodyguard. Investigators believed that the cartel gunmen concentrated their fire on the passenger’s side of the vehicle, mistaking Flores Lares for Pacheco Rodriguez. Investigators reported the victim’s vehicle received a total of 17 bullet strikes from .223 caliber firearm, most of them directed to the front passenger side where Pacheco Rodriguez would normally be sitting. It was reported that Pacheco Rodriguez was attending a separate function and had not reported directly to the office.

Witnesses related that the gunmen abandoned the F-150 and got into a dark vehicle which was immediately abandoned after suffering what appeared to be mechanical problems. The gunmen then jumped into a third vehicle that was trailing them and fled.

According to local media reports, sources within the state attorney general’s office believe that Los Aztecas were responsible for the double murder. It was also reported that the ministerial police and prosecutor’s office were already on heightened alert due to threats received.

Breitbart Texas has reported extensively on Los Aztecas, aka Barrio Azteca, aligned with La Linea, the armed wing of the Juarez Cartel. Los Aztecas act as foot soldiers for La Linea/Juarez Cartel or El Nuevo Cartel de Juarez. Barrio Azteca is a mixed gang of Mexican-Americans and illegal aliens from Mexico.

Robert Arce is a retired Phoenix Police detective with extensive experience working Mexican organized crime and street gangs. Arce has worked in the Balkans, Iraq, Haiti, and recently completed a three-year assignment in Monterrey, Mexico, working out of the Consulate for the United States Department of State, International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Program, where he was the Regional Program Manager for Northeast Mexico (Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Durango, San Luis Potosi, Zacatecas.)