Guanajuato accumulated 293 murders in the first month of the year, equivalent to more than nine victims a day, the state closed January in the fifth position in number of intentional homicides, as revealed by data from the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System (Secretariado Ejecutivo del Sistema Nacional de Seguridad Pública SESNSP).
With a rate of 3.75 murders per 100 thousand inhabitants, Guanajuato was above the national average, of only 1.95 cases per 100,000 people, and surpassed other 27 states in the homicide indicator. (only below Colima, Baja California, Chihuahua and Guerrero).
By the end of 2018, Guanajuato occupied the sixth position, below the four aforementioned states, in addition to the neighboring Queretaro, but as of Feb 20th, 2019, the state is fifth place at national level.
The Attorney General’s Office of the State (PGJE) initiated 225 investigation files in January for intentional homicides, as sometimes a single file may contain two or more victims, in cases where two or more people were killed in the same incident.
The breakdown of victims reveals that 251 died after being attacked with firearms (83%), while only 16 resulted from attacks with a knife, and 26 with another object, such as stones, metal pipes or asphyxiation.
Irapuato leads the count of cases by municipality, with 35 murders counted in January, León (29), Salamanca (25), Silao (15), Pénjamo (14), Valle de Santiago (13), Celaya (12), Salvatierra (11) and Yuriria (9).
SMT Newsroom with information from periodicocorreo.com.mx
