Armed men in eight vehicles caused panic in Culiacán, Sinaloa, late Monday night and early Tuesday as they drove through the city shooting out security cameras with automatic machine guns.

The gangsters destroyed 80 cameras at 25 different points in the capital of the northern state, home to the notorious Sinaloa Cartel.

The newspaper El Universal reported that the synchronized actions of the gunmen provoked hours of panic in Culiacán, especially in its downtown and surrounding areas.

“Families and workers who get up early had to take cover and throw themselves on the ground,” the newspaper reported.

The volleys of gunfire triggered memories of the mayhem in Culiacán in October 2019 when members of the Sinaloa Cartel took to the streets to carry out a wave of attacks to protest the arrest of one of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s sons.

Witnesses said the armed men began their camera-destroying rampage near the Culiacán airport before moving through several neighborhoods in the northern city.

Diego Castro Blanco, president of the Culiacán Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Services, called for a thorough investigation into the violent vandalism, adding that such incidents mustn’t be allowed to occur again.

Sinaloa Governor Quirino Ordaz said authorities have already initiated an investigation to identify and apprehend the culprits. He also said security would be bolstered in Culiacán and the damaged cameras would be replaced.

State Security Minister Cristobal Castañeda Camarillo said that police pursued the gunmen but the latter threw metal spikes onto the road that punctured the tires of two police cars.

With reports from El Universal