Two police officers were wounded on Tuesday when a vehicle in which a granddaughter of Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya was traveling came under fire in Culiacán.

The armed attack occurred in broad daylight on the Jesús Kumate Boulevard, located in the south of Culiacán, the capital of Sinaloa and the epicenter of a yearlong war between rival factions of the Sinaloa Cartel.

Respecto a la agresión sufrida a elementos de la SSP Sinaloa en Culiacán, derivada de un intento de despojo de camioneta, informo que los agentes lesionados ya reciben atención médica. En el vehículo viajaba mi nieta, quien resultó ilesa. Seguiremos trabajando con firmeza para…

— Rubén Rocha Moya (@rochamoya_) September 24, 2025

Rocha said in a social media post that his granddaughter was not injured. The name and age of his granddaughter have not been publicly disclosed. She is the daughter of the governor’s daughter, Eneyda Rocha, who is the president of the DIF family services agency in Sinaloa. The newspaper El País reported that “the minor” was being taken to her home in an upscale housing estate in Culiacán when the attack occurred.

Rocha — who has faced criticism for his government’s response to violence in Sinaloa — said that the attack was related to an attempt to steal the SUV in which his granddaughter and the two police officers were traveling. That claim amounted to a denial that his granddaughter had been targeted.

The vehicle was hit by at least eight bullets. The police officers returned fire, but there were no reports of the aggressors having sustained any injuries. The Sinaloa Attorney General’s Office is investigating the crime.

The governor and the Sinaloa Public Security Ministry (SSP) said on Tuesday that the injured police officers — who both belong to the state police force’s protection services division — were receiving medical care. One officer was reported to be in serious condition.

The SSP said that a bus was also hit by bullets during the attack, but no one in that vehicle was injured.

The attack occurred amid tightened security in Culiacán as members of the federal security cabinet, including Security Minister Omar García Harfuch and National Defense Minister Ricardo Trevilla Trejo, were in the Sinaloa capital on Tuesday for a meeting. The assault on the vehicle in which Rocha’s granddaughter was traveling came hours after that meeting, the Reforma newspaper reported.

Eneyda Rocha expressed her gratitude to the police officers who were with her daughter when the attack occurred.

“To them and their families, all my recognition and solidarity. Thank you,” she wrote on social media.

Questions arise 

In its report about the attack, Reforma raised questions about Rocha’s claim that the aim of the aggressors was to steal the SUV in which his granddaughter and the police officers were traveling.

The newspaper questioned why the attackers would attempt to steal a vehicle in which armed police were traveling. Reforma also questioned why the assailants would attempt to steal a vehicle on a busy avenue, and wondered whether they would have taken “a shot-up, unusable truck.”

In addition, the newspaper questioned why the aggressors would attack an “official vehicle” on a day when García Harfuch was in Culiacán.

With reports from Reforma