119 bullets, 13 soldiers involved and two girls dead. This is the outcome of the attack carried out by a group of uniformed soldiers in May against a family’s SUV in Badiraguato, in the mountains of Sinaloa, in north-west Mexico. The details of the investigation to which EL PAÍS had access shed light on this event – a clear case of mistaken identity – which Claudia Sheinbaum’s government has just dealt with in recent months. The attack, which left two other minors and two adults injured, revives concerns about trigger-happy soldiers, given the military deployment in the country in recent years as part of the strategy of successive governments in the fight against organized crime.
Just this week, Secretary of National Defense Ricardo Trevilla briefly touched on the issue when asked during the president’s morning press conference. “The investigations were opened by the General Prosecutor’s Office (FGR) and the Military Prosecutor’s Office. In the military case, the judge ordered the imprisonment of six officers. As for the civilian case, the murder investigation is handled by the FGR. This is the situation,” the army chief said. Although military justice initially imprisoned 12 of the 13 people involved – according to this newspaper’s sources, on charges of disobedience – six were released months later, judging by Trevilla’s statements. The thirteenth person involved was never arrested. The reason is unknown.
EL PAÍS contacted the spokesperson of the Ministry of Defense to inquire about the latest developments and to understand why half of the 12 soldiers remain in prison while the others were released, but did not receive a response. Likewise, this newspaper reached out to the spokesperson for the attorney general’s office to inquire about the status of the civil investigation, but this also received no response. The soldiers involved were part of the 42nd Infantry Battalion, based in Guamúchil, just north of Badiraguato. The accident occurred after 2.30pm on May 6, on a motorway outside the municipal capital. Badiraguato is one of the largest municipalities in the state and includes dozens of communities and ranches. The attack came amid the ongoing battle between factions of the Sinaloa Cartel, a conflict that began in September 2024 and continues to this day.
The case made headlines as the terrible result of a clash between soldiers and armed civilians, a version promoted by the authorities. According to this account, the family’s pickup truck was caught in the crossfire and bullets struck two of the girls, Leidy, 11, and Alexa, 7, who were riding in the bed of the truck. As the hours passed, relatives of the girls and other victims rejected this version, saying that the soldiers had fired without any provocation. Witness statements later made to the military or civilian prosecutor’s office indicated that they heard gunshots coming from the hill or from a rise on the left side of the road. Only one person reported hearing gunshots coming from the direction the truck had passed.
At least 13 of the 24 soldiers in the three-vehicle convoy admitted firing their weapons. Of these 13, two were on board the first vehicle, seven in the second and four in the third. The lieutenant in command of the convoy stated that he did not hear any shots fired before his men responded and that he ordered them to cease fire. The tally of ammunition carried by the soldiers, both before and after leaving the base, indicates that 119 shots were fired. Of these, the family’s pickup truck, a black GMC Sierra with an open bed, was hit by 38 bullets, mostly in the body and windows.
This case is not unique under the Sheinbaum administration. In October, soldiers shot and killed six people in Tamaulipas, apparently farm workers in the region. A year earlier, in Chiapas, soldiers had also killed six migrants, presumably in a case of mistaken identity. In both cases, as in Badiraguato, the government’s reaction was similar. Sheinbaum expressed regret for what happened, promised an investigation and reiterated that the army does not operate as it did in the past, referring to the times of Felipe Calderón (2006-2012) and Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018), when such incidents were more common.
But situations like that of Badiraguato reveal some discrepancies between the president’s words and the military’s actions. First, there’s the narrative. In the hours following the event, the authorities tried to promote the idea in the media that the family had been caught in the crossfire, shifting the blame from the military. Only the statements of the victim’s relatives shed light on the incident, allowing them to dispute the official version. And then there are the military protocols. Badiraguato’s soldiers fired over 100 shots at a pickup truck in which four children were traveling in an open bed, in broad daylight.
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