A chain of violent events recorded between the afternoon of April 6 in San Pedro Sacatepéquez, Guatemala, left four people dead, two agents of the National Civil Police (PNC) injured and three alleged members of the Mara Salvatrucha captured.
The incidents began in the Las Limas canton, Vista Hermosa village, and spread to different parts of the municipality and nearby areas, leaving vehicles with perforations from a firearm projectile, confiscation of abandoned high-caliber weapons and bodies located in violent conditions.
The beginning: shooting and chase
It was 5:10 p.m. on April 6 when an armed attack was reported at kilometer 20.5 of the route to San Pedro Sacatepéquez. PNC agents patrolling the sector heard gunshots and that’s why they went to the area.
“We were on citizen security tours in the sector of responsibility. Firearm detonations were heard, so a search was immediately carried out…”, details the police report.
Witnesses indicated that a white vehicle had participated in the attack against a pick-up truck of the same color, which began a chase on the route to San Juan Sacatepéquez.
“Pursuit on the main route that leads to San Juan Sacatepéquez and at kilometer 21.5… a vehicle with several punctures was located,” the report adds.
The event at 5:35 p.m.: victim returning home
At 5:35 p.m., at kilometer 22 of the route to San Juan Sacatepéquez, a man died while returning to his home.
The victim was identified as Cristian Alexander Muñoz Cruz, 31, a sales consultant, who was riding a motorcycle when, in the middle of the armed attack, he was intercepted by one of the perpetrators, who shot him and stole the vehicle.
According to the investigation, two alleged gang members participated in the incident and were later captured in possession of an AK-47 rifle.
According to the report, the suspects were traveling on a motorcycle with license plate M-107MZF when they also attacked agents from Police Station 16 of the PNC.
In that incident, officer II Gerber Eliazar López Carreto, 44, with a gunshot wound to the right leg, and agent Antony Ariel García Bravo, with a projectile wound to the right ear, were injured.
The picop: blood, bullets and drugs
Minutes later, in zone 3 of San Pedro Sacatepéquez, a white pickaxe was located with multiple bullet holes. The vehicle had perforations in the windows, doors and bodywork, as well as blood stains inside.
Inside the car, prosecutors from the Public Ministry found shell casings, projectiles, a destroyed cell phone and dry grass, which was later proven to be marijuana.
The cemetery: charred bodies
On the morning of April 7, inside the San Pedro Sacatepéquez cemetery, at kilometer 22.5, two completely charred bodies were found.
The first hypotheses suggest that these people would have been linked to the armed attack that occurred the previous day.
The woman: a search that ended in death
Hours later, at kilometer 27.5, on the route to Santo Domingo Xenacoj, Sacatepéquez, a woman who died from gunshot wounds was located, identified as Sheila Karina Ortiz Farelo.
According to the investigation, the victim was the cohabitant of Ricardo Cruz, one of the deceased in these events and identified as the alleged ringleader of the criminal structure.
According to the police report, The woman went out to look for him after receiving a call in which he asked her for help after being attacked.
The police interviewed Ortiz’s father, who reported that the victim was a teacher and Cruz’s cohabitant.
“Declaring that she was her deceased daughter. Karina Ortiz received a call from her boyfriend named Ricardo Cruz at approximately 4:00 p.m., where he indicated that in the San Pedro Sacatepéquez sector, organized neighbors had beaten him and shot his P-911KDJ pick-up vehicle with a firearm,” the report details.
The reconstruction of the events by the MP reveals that Ortiz tried to rescue her partner, but the hooded men who control San Pedro Sacatepéquez intercepted her, took her out of the car and later beat her.
The woman’s body was found on Sunday in a ravine; Some children who were playing soccer saw the body and alerted the authorities.
The MP said that he is still investigating Ortiz’s relationship with the armed attacks. The victim’s body was found at kilometer 27.5, on the route that leads from San Pedro Sacatepéquez to Santo Domingo Xenacoj.
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The MP arrived seven hours later at the crime scenes
According to MP prosecutors, they arrived seven hours later at the crime scenes, due to insecurity. They pointed out that the Police had not yet taken control of the sector, where a criminal group that poses as organized neighbors operates.
The prosecutor in charge also indicated that the delay in entering the crime scenes would have allowed the disappearance of evidence.
“We suspect that was not all we found. We suspect that something may have disappeared, maybe weapons,” he explained.
The prosecutor also pointed out that in videos of the event an agricultural-type truck appears that was not located by the authorities.
In the opinion of the MP, the events could be related to a structure dedicated to the transfer of drugss.
“It is much larger than retail drug sales, we suspect that this structure has greater scope,” said the MP.
Hypothesis: kidnapping and confrontation
One of the investigation hypotheses indicates that one of the deceased would be Ricardo Cruz, the alleged leader of a drug dealing structure that operated in San Pedro Sacatepéquez along with his father and a brother.
According to this line, the man would have been kidnapped and, before dying, he would have sent his location to ask for help.
According to the investigations, his partner, Sheila Karina Ortiz Farelo, 23, tried to rescue him, but was murdered by the group of hooded men.
Investigators also indicate that members of the Mara Salvatrucha tried to intervene to rescue Ricardo Cruz, but were attacked with bullets by the supposedly organized neighbors.
In the midst of the exchange of fire, PNC agents intervened and two of them were injured.
Prosecutors are investigating the participation of a group of “hooded men” in the armed attacks of April 6, but also in the transfer and sale of drugs.
The authorities are following up on events related to a territorial dispute with a rival group known as Los Polleros, identified as an alleged structure that operates in the same municipality.
Three alleged gang members captured
During the shootings, those allegedly involved were injured and arrested. According to the PNC, those accused are Jefry Josué Ochoa Ramírez, 26, with a history of extortion on October 27, 2017; Raúl Ernesto Pérez Grande, 37, alias “El Strong”, “Snyper” and “Holl”, originally from San Salvador, El Salvador, whom authorities link to the Teclas Locos clique of the Mara Salvatrucha, with a presence in Guatemala, Escuintla and Chimaltenango; and Marvin Alexander Hernández Cruz, 32 years old.
The latter was captured at km 16.5, Los Pinos neighborhood, zone 6 of Mixco, after a chase that originated at km 22 of the route to San Pedro Sacatepéquez.
The first statement hearing will take place on April 16 and the MP indicated that the crimes that could be charged to the three detainees, alleged members of the Mara Salvatrucha, are homicide and attempted homicide.
