Six individuals sustained injuries following a disagreement between traders at the Juarez market located in Toluca, State of Mexico. Initial reports suggest the altercation stemmed from a dispute over the “floor charge” of market stalls.
Eyewitness accounts, corroborated by video footage circulating on social media platforms, detail the chaos. The video depicts individuals clashing fiercely on a nearby avenue, to the shock of numerous onlookers. At one juncture, the distinct sound of a firearm discharging pierces the air, prompting terrified spectators to flee into the market for safety.
Of the injured, three are women, and three are men. They were swiftly transported to local medical facilities for treatment. In response to the situation, a significant contingent of law enforcement officers, together with units from the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena), descended on the scene to apprehend the culprits.
Despite these efforts, the Security Secretariat of the State of Mexico confirmed that the perpetrators managed to escape, with no reported arrests at this time. Speaking to Infobae Mexico, representatives of the agency elucidated that the clash was a result of merchants vying for control over specific areas within the market. The Attorney General’s Office of the State of Mexico (FGJEM) is set to investigate the incident further, determining whether the root cause was indeed a territorial dispute or the aforementioned “floor charge.”
This incident at Juarez market comes from another violent event a month prior when armed individuals unleashed a barrage of gunfire near the Central de Abastos de Toluca. Subsequent to the shooting, the assailants doused commercial building number 7, colloquially referred to as “La Isla,” with gasoline and set it ablaze. The inferno claimed nine lives on July 10, including three minors who were tragically caught in the blaze. Most victims were shopkeepers who had been resting inside, with eight perishing at the scene and one succumbing to injuries in a hospital.
The aftermath of this harrowing episode saw Mexican authorities apprehend and charge four individuals for obstructing authority. A statement from the Prosecutor’s Office of the Edomex posited that “One of the first hypotheses would consist in that these facts could be related to internal conflicts for the possession of the stores in an environment of diverse judicial actions, threats, and aggressions registered previously.”
A subsequent update from the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC) on July 12 revealed the arrest of nine individuals on charges of aggravated homicide. The statement from SSPC detailed, “Three of those investigated hold positions in the Board of Directors of the Central de Abasto – president, treasurer, and advisor. One more is responsible for the Legal Department, and another is in charge of security in the same Central. Allegedly these five subjects, under different forms of participation, planned, organized, and ordered the aggression against the retailers who were in the area known as Isla to make them vacate the space for their activities.”
The accused were subsequently detained at the Almoloya de Juárez Penitentiary and Social Reinsertion Center. They were presented before a control judge of the Judicial Power of the State of Mexico in the Judicial District of Toluca, who ordered their continued detention. By July 19, the Attorney General’s Office of the State of Mexico announced that eight of the nine individuals implicated in the Central de Abasto fire had been committed to stand trial.