Murders said to have dropped by a third in Mexico's Tijuana

Authorities in the district of Tijuana in northern Mexico said criminal killings (homicidios dolosos) dropped 32% in 2025 compared to 2024, with better policing and coordination between local and state authorities. "Preliminary figures" given by the state prosecution service of the state of Baja California showed there were just over 1,200 criminal killings in 2025 in Tijuana, a district of around two million residents, compared to just over 1,800 in 2024, the newspaper Excelsior reported on 13 January. It observed that tighter coordination between the various levels of government - local, state and national - was a crucial part of the security strategy of the government of President Gloria Sheinbaum Pardo. A chart showed April to have been the deadliest month in Tijuana in 2024, with 173 reported killings that fell to 102 for the same month in 2025.

Police arrest Tijuana couple for killing a puppy

Police arrested a couple in Tijuana in northern Mexico for beating a pitbull puppy to death on 27 December. They were seen, and filmed, beating the creature before putting its remains in a suitcase, the daily Heraldo de México reported on 5 January. The pictures were posted on social media, prompting an animal rights groups, Patitas firmes, to call the police. The couple may be jailed for up to five years and fined if convicted of relevant charges of cruelty to animals. Neighbors were said to be so incensed with the couple's conduct they had gathered for a possible lynching, El Sol de Tijuana reported.

Almost 40 killed, found dead around Mexico

Some 38 people were reported to have been killed or found dead in presumed criminal incidents around Mexico in the 9-11 January period, Proceso reported on 10 and 11 January, describing the 11th as one of the most violent days since Enrique Peña Nieto's presidency began in December 2012. Eight victims were killed in the northern state of Chihuahua on the night of 10-11 January, while five were found in a mine shaft in the north-central district of Noria de Angeles. Two men and a woman were also shot early on 11 January in a house in Mexico City, considered one of the country's less crime-ridden areas. Late on 9 January, four men aged 18 to 25 were killed in and outside a house in the northern city of Monterrey. Three policemen were among the dead: one was shot dead in the northern city of Tijuana as he left work at six in the morning on 10 January and two the same day in Chihuahua, the capital of the northern state of Chihuahua, Proceso reported.

Ten killed around Mexico, locals arm against criminals

Ten people were reported killed in presumed criminal incidents around Mexico on 8-9 January, including three gunned down in the northern district of Saltillo and four in the north-western district of Tijuana. Another victim was an employee of the baking firm Bimbo, shot dead while driving a delivery van in the north-western city of Culiacán, Proceso reported on 9 January. On 8 January, police found 10 tonnes of marijuana in a mechanical workshop in Tijuana in the state of Baja California, although stamps on the sealed packets indicated these had previously been confiscated by police or the army. Nobody was arrested and it was not immediately clear why the load was seemingly abandoned or stolen. A police revision that day apparently indicated the load had been confiscated days before in three parts. The drugs formerly owned by the Sinaloa cartel, were handed over to state prosecutors, Proceso reported. The review separately reported that 200 residents of the western district of Ayutla de los Libres have been armed since 5 January and set up road blocks in response to persistent crime. The locals were controlling circulation in and out of Ayutla and declared they would not disarm until criminals had left the area. The governor of Guerrero where Ayutla is located, Ángel Aguirre Rivero reportedly told local media on 8 January that the measure indicated "the citizenry's desperation before organized crime and the lack of response by authorities," Proceso reported. Residents of Ayutla and two nearby districts mobilized on 5 January when a local policeman was kidnapped; the official was rescued and the kidnappers reportedly fled.