Following the nine homicides in the area on June 10, there were two more firearm-involved incidents on June 14 in the Arizona-Sonora border city of Agua Prieta, near the street where cross-border travelers wait to cross the border. Hermosillo-based newspaper El Imparcial reported that the gun violence involved two more murders and a shootout near a primary school. It is not clear whether the two events, which occurred one block apart, were related.
Early on June 14, two men were found dead in a home on Calle 3 between Avenidas 23 and 24 in Colonia Militar. The house is located just three blocks south of the international border and approximately 1.25 miles east of the Raul H. Castro Port of Entry border crossing.
El Imparcial reported that local police retrieved a variety of shell casings of various calibers from the scene, which also included a bullet-ridden late-model black GMC Sierra.
The deceased were identified by the Sonora State Attorney General’s Office (FGJE) as 39-year-old “Manuel N.,” aka “El Ratón” (the mouse) and “El Machi,” whose age was estimated to be between 30 and 35 years old.
Also that morning, nervous residents of Agua Prieta and Douglas were again listening to the sounds of gunfire as a gunbattle erupted outside of the Margarita Maza de Juarez Elementary School, located just two blocks south of the border on Calle 2, between Avenideas 22 and 23. The school’s young students were on summer break, but a group of administrators were meeting at the school.
Elements of the Mexican Army and Agua Prieta municipal police soon arrived at the scene to investigate. El Imparcial reported that there were rumors of fatalities, but police did not confirm them at the scene.
A “Code Red” police alert that indicates a firearms-related incident was activated at 9:40 a.m., activating a “C5i” Operations Center. The letters and number in C5i represent: Control, Command, Communication, Computing, Coordination and Intelligence.
Both shooting incidents occurred a short distance from Calle Internacional, the street where vehicles line up as they wait to cross the international border from Agua Prieta, Sonora to Douglas, Arizona. We reiterate our travel advisory for Agua Prieta, to take extreme caution if traveling to the area (which is not recommended).