A Gang Leader Killed 10 Prison Guards and a Whole Mexican City's on Lockdown

CIUDAD JUÁREZ, Mexico—The Mexican border city of Ciudad Juárez has been under siege for several days after a local gang leader killed ten guards in a violent prison escape that also freed another 24 inmates. Seven inmates reportedly also died in the incident.   

An armed group driving an armored SUV drove through the gates of a state prison located on the outskirts of the city, known as CERESO #3, on Sunday. They started shooting at the security towers from the inside, and armed prisoners who were also reportedly gang members took ten guards hostage. The prison guards were later executed, according to Chihuahua state officials. 

During the attack, 25 members of a local gang known as Los Mexicles, which is allegedly allied with the Sinaloa Cartel, escaped. Amongst those who got out was gang leader Ernesto Alfredo Piñón, known as “El Neto”, according to Ciudad Juárez’s local authorities. El Neto allegedly orchestrated the incident with the help of allies from both inside and outside the prison. 

El Neto, 29, is allegedly responsible for ordering a series of attacks on civilians in Ciudad Juárez in August after another escape attempt from the same prison. At least 10 people were killed during that incident, including a pregnant woman who was burned alive inside a convenience store and four staff members of a local radio station. 

He had also tried to escape in 2010 when he was being transported from prison to the Chihuahua’s State General Attorney’s Office to receive a 200-year sentence for kidnapping. An armed group blocked the government vehicle in which he was being moved and started a shootout to rescue El Neto, but the plot failed. The gang leader lost his right eye during that shootout, according to local authorities. 

After Sunday’s escape Chihuahua state authorities said they found 21 rifles, 900 bullet rounds, bullet-proof vests, alcohol, drugs and a safe box containing over a million Mexican pesos (roughly $500,000). On Monday, five of the 25 escaped inmates were arrested and the armored SUV used to attack the prison was also seized. 

Ciudad Juárez’s Mayor, Cruz Pérez Cuellar, called on local residents to "avoid leaving their homes if possible until the situation is under control”, fearing attacks from the gang members against civilians. 

During the night of the escape local news reported several carjackings around the city, allegedly from the fleeing inmates. On Monday night, five gang members and two state police officers were killed during a shootout in a residential area that kicked off as police searched for the missing gang leader and other inmates. 

“We are still looking for the fugitives and we are investigating Chihuahua’s state authorities to find those responsible for the situation at the prison,” Mexico’s top police chief, Rosa Icela Rodríguez, said at a Tuesday morning press conference. 

The prison’s director, Alejandro Alvarado Téllez, was fired from his post on Tuesday morning and is currently under investigation for his possible involvement in the prison break, Chihuahua state authorities said. Alvarado had just been named four months ago after the previous director was also fired following El Neto’s previous attempted prison break in August.

Around 200 members of Mexico’s National Guard were deployed in Ciudad Juárez on Tuesday morning to assist in securing the city, Rodríguez said. 

Los Mexicles gang started operating in Ciudad Juárez allied with the Sinaloa Cartel. They were up against the Juarez Cartel and their local armed wing, Los Aztecas, in 2009. Los Mexicles control some of the border city’s street drug sales, arms and drugs trafficking and kidnapping markets, according to news reports.