Story By: Jonathan Macias, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
Video Credit:CEN
This is the moment a gang of inmates run free from prison after shooting two guards dead as deadly shootouts broke out after El-Chapo’s son was arrested.
The startling scenes were reportedly recorded at the Aguaruto prison as hitmen from Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman’s Sinaloa Cartel were engaged in a city-wide shootout with Mexican police in the city of Culiacan, in the northwestern Mexican state of Sinaloa after the arrest of El Chapo’s son, Ovidio Guzman.
In the video, a crowd of people, reportedly prison breakers from the Aguaruto prison located to the west of Culiacan, can be seen sprinting onto a wide road and stopping two cars.
According to the Security Secretary in Sinaloa Cristobal Castañeda, the massive prison break is linked to the raging violence triggered by the brief apprehension of Ovidio Guzman, who was captured by police during a shooting in Culiacan and later released when civilians loyal to the Sinaloa cartel started a war across the city.
Castaneda told Milenio in Mexico: “A police operation was carried out in the city of Culiacan and as a result we have had several criminal episodes […] We recently had a prison break in Aguaruto where several prisoners escaped although we do not know exactly how many but we presume there were between 20 and 30.”
The Security Secretary also confirmed to Milenio that there was a clash between the prisoners and the prison authorities and two prison guards died during the confrontation.
Castañeda added: “I’m in the place, when we arrived here there was a shooting and unfortunately two guards lost their lives.”
A police brigade is reportedly looking for the prisoners and four of them have already been arrested, according to local media.
Another video recorded in the shopping centre Plaza Forum in the city of Culiacan shows the moment panicked civilians run away in panic in a stampede after an armed group reportedly broke into the shopping centre and opened fire during a confrontation with the local authorities.
The Secretary of Security, Alfonso Durazo, confirmed AT around 10 pm that Ovidio Guzman had been released in order not to put civilians in danger. He said that around 3.30 pm, an army patrol was carrying out patrol services in the area when they were attacked from a house in the area known as Tres Rios in Culiacan. They fought back against the aggression and four people were arrested, among whom was Ovidio Guzman.
Due to the wave of violence in the city, the Government of the state sent members of the Navy to support the Army to try to maintain order, local media reported.
The authorities have called on people to be calm and not to go out into the streets and be aware of the official warning messages from the authorities.
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