San Luis R.C. sees drop in killings, kidnappings in last 2 months

SAN LUIS RIO COLORADO, Son. – After starting the year off on a record-setting pace, the number of homicides and kidnappings in this border city dropped off in April and May, according to the Sonora state police agency.

There were seven homicides in April and another six in the city next to Yuma County, accoring to the Sonora Public Safety Ministry.

That compares with 26 homicides recorded in January, 12 in February and 17 in March.

There were seven reported kidnappings or disappearances of people in San Luis Rio Colorado in April and four in May, according to the ministry. That compares with 11 reported kidnappings in January, nine in February and 20 in March.

Police officials attribute most of the slayings and kidnappings to fighting among drug cartels and other organized crime groups that operate in the city and the state.

At the rate of killings and reported kidnappings recorded in the first quarter of 2022, San Luis Rio Colorado was on pace to set new records for each of those categories in 2022. The Public Safety Ministry did not offer any explanations for the decline in numbers during the past two months.

For the month of June, the first slaying was recorded Sunday, when the body of an unidentified man was found in an undeveloped area on the city’s southeast corner.

Municipal police said the man had been bound at the hands and shot in the head execution style, then dumped in an area where other the bodies of other slaying victims previously were found.