Bar attack that killed 2 triggers removal of Cuernavaca police chief

March 2, 2019

Crime scene tape at the Sophia bar Thursday night in Cuernavaca.

The Morelos state government has removed the Cuernavaca police chief after a bar shooting this week killed two people and wounded 10 others.

Security Secretary José Ortiz Guaneros announced the removal of José Trinidad González Flores after at least two assailants opened fire in the Sophia bar on Thursday night.

One of the dead was the daughter of an official with the state education institute.

In a statement on Twitter, Ortiz said that González had been incapable of containing systemic violence in Cuernavaca in any meaningful way. The former police chief’s replacement has not yet been announced.

The state government also released a statement urging bars to report threats or extortion attempts, which many speculated might have been a factor in Thursday’s attack, and to implement extra security measures, like panic buttons, video cameras and pat-downs of patrons.

In solidarity with the victims of the attack in the Sophia and as a protest against insecurity in the city, several popular bars and nightclubs in Cuernavaca, including Morgana, Janis and The Noise, announced that their doors would remain closed this weekend. They urged the government to take concrete action against crime in the state capital.

Interior Secretary Pablo Ojeda Cárdenas told a press conference that Morelos does not have enough police to effectively combat the crisis of violence in the state. He said the state will ask President López Obrador for an additional 250 police elements to reinforce security in Morelos.