Exactly three months after two aides of Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada were murdered in a brazen attack in the capital, 13 people were arrested in connection with the crime, authorities announced Wednesday.
However, neither the man who shot and killed Ximena Guzmán, Brugada’s personal secretary, and José Muñoz, an advisor to the mayor, on May 20, nor the masterminds of the attack, were among those detained on Wednesday, officials said.
En memoria de nuestros compañeros y en respeto a sus familias y amigos, este gobierno no descansará hasta que la verdad sea conocida y la justicia se haga efectiva. pic.twitter.com/6W9rJweOmb
— Clara Brugada Molina (@ClaraBrugadaM) August 20, 2025
Brugada announced the 13 arrests — the first in the case — at a press conference on Wednesday morning.
“During the early morning today, in coordination with the federal government, an important operation related to the murder of our colleagues Ximena Guzmán and José Muñoz was carried out,” she said.
“… Thirteen people were detained, including three people who participated directly in the murder and others connected to the logistical preparation for the attack,” Brugada said.
The three people alleged to have “participated directly” in the crime were identified as Jesús “N”, Arlette “N” y Nery “N.” They were allegedly nearby when the two aides were killed and assisted the getaway of the perpetrator.
Eight of the 13 people detained are men, while the other five are women. All of the suspects were only identified by their first names.
Brugada said that the arrests “represent the first advances of an ongoing investigation.”
She assured residents of Mexico City that her government “will continue with its relentless fight against insecurity.”
On the day her aides were murdered, the mayor pledged that there would be “no impunity,” asserting that those responsible for the crime will be detained.
President Claudia Sheinbaum, a former Mexico City mayor, also pledged that justice would be served.
Suspects were arrested in CDMX and México state
Federal Security Minister Omar García Harfuch told a press conference on Wednesday afternoon that the 13 suspects were arrested in operations carried out in the Mexico City boroughs of Gustavo A. Madero and Xochimilco, and in the México state municipalities of Otumba and Coacalco.
The suspects face charges including homicide and criminal association.
At the same press conference, Mexico City Security Minister Pablo Vázquez said that the man who shot Guzmán and Muñoz while they were in the former’s car outside the Xola Metro station has not been detained. He also said that the people who planned the attack on the mayoral aides — the autores intelectuales, or masterminds — have not yet been arrested.
“Regarding the motive, there are various lines of investigation. This first stage of the investigation has focused on the perpetration [of the crime] and the logistical support and coordination for the event. We will continue advancing … to eventually get to the masterminds,” Vázquez said.
He also said that authorities are working to detain the man who fired the shots.
“Regarding that, we have lines of investigation,” Vázquez said, adding that authorities were reserving that information to maintain “secrecy.”
Arresting the shooter “is one of the priorities at this stage of the investigation,” he said.
Mayor’s personal secretary and advisor murdered in Mexico City
Vázquez said that the 11 properties raided in Mexico City and México state on Wednesday morning were not only of interest in connection to the double homicide on May 20, but also other crimes, including drug dealing and vehicle theft.
García Harfuch acknowledged that there are many unanswered questions regarding the case.
“We ask for your understanding in this investigation, … which is ongoing. These [arrests] are just the first actions,” he said.
What happened on May 20?
Guzmán and Muñoz were shot dead on the morning of May 20 after the former picked up her colleague at Xola station on Tlalpan Avenue in central Mexico City, as she regularly did.
Security cameras captured a man in a motorcycle helmet shooting the two mayoral aides through the windshield of the vehicle.
The shooter and accomplices fled the scene on a motorbike and in at least one car, according to authorities. The shooter and one accomplice subsequently dumped the motorbike and got into another vehicle that took them to the La Asunción neighborhood in the Mexico City borough of Iztacalco, officials said.
From there the suspects who were allegedly involved in the carrying out of the crime on the day it was committed headed to Ecatepec, México state, in a different vehicle, García Harfuch said. Authorities lost track of them after they entered the densely populated municipality.
Guzmán, 42, and Muñoz, 52, were close and trusted collaborators of Brugada, for whom they worked prior to her assuming the mayorship of Mexico City. Neither was well-known outside political circles, and didn’t have any kind of personal security detail.
Officials were followed for 20 days before they were killed
Mexico City Attorney General Bertha Alcalde said that Guzmán and Muñoz were followed for approximately 20 days before they were murdered on May 20.
There was “advanced planning sustained over time,” she said.
Alcalde said that authorities had established that people in two vehicles had monitored the route Guzmán and Muñoz took to get to work in the historic center of Mexico City.
She said that people who followed the two officials, and who bought and hid cars that were used to plan for and execute the May 20 murder, were among those detained on Wednesday.
The attorney general said that authorities had determined to “a high degree of probability” that a plan was devised to murder Guzmán and Muñoz on May 14. However, the plan was abandoned as Guzmán didn’t pick up Muñoz that day, she said.
Alcalde declined to say whether authorities had established that the suspects belonged to a specific criminal group.
The murder of Guzmán and Muñoz shocked residents of Mexico City, which has a lower homicide rate than many other states in Mexico.
Attacks on politicians and officials are rare in the capital, although García Harfuch was targeted in a 2020 shooting while serving as security minister in the Mexico City government led by Sheinbaum.
