At least 13 people allegedly involved in the killing of two members of Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada’s staff in May were arrested Wednesday for their alleged roles in what authorities described as a meticulously planned hit on two people close to the capital’s leader.
Three of those arrested allegedly were directly involved in the killings and the others had roles in the logistics.
“In memory of our colleagues and out of respect for their families and friends, this government will not rest until the truth is known and justice is served,” the mayor said in a statement posted on social media.
Brugada’s personal secretary, Ximena Guzmán, and an adviser, José Muñoz, were shot dead in Guzmán’s car on a Mexico City street in broad daylight on May 20. Guzmán, as she did regularly, was picking up Muñoz at a subway station.
A framed image of Ximena Guzmán, the personal secretary to Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada who was murdered a day earlier, adorns an altar during a wake at a funeral home in Mexico City, Wednesday, May 21, 2025. / Credit: Marco Ugarte / AP
Authorities said the gunman had fled on a motorcycle that was hidden nearby and then changed vehicles twice as he and others fled into neighboring Mexico State.
“These results represent the first advances of an ongoing investigation,” Brugada said.
Bertha María Alcalde Luján, Mexico City’s chief prosecutor, said later during a news conference that five vehicles, including the motorcycle the shooter fled on, were part of the operation. Two of the other vehicles were identified as having surveilled the victims in the weeks before their killings.
Alcalde Luján even said investigators believe the hit had originally been planned for May 14, but Guzmán didn’t pick up Muñoz that day, so they believe it was called off.
Police officers stand guard near the crime scene of the killing of Jose Munoz and Ximena Guzman in Mexico city on May 20, 2025. / Credit: VALENTINA ALPIDE/AFP via Getty Images
Mexico’s federal security chief, Omar García Harfuch, said investigators confirmed that those involved in the shootings initially fled to a neighborhood in the borough of Iztacalco, not far from the capital’s international airport. There they changed vehicles and escaped the city to neighboring Mexico state.
Early Wednesday, law enforcement carried out 11 raids, arresting the 13 suspects.
Mexico City Police Chief Pablo Vázquez Camacho said there were various lines of investigation, but authorities would not speak of a possible motive while the investigation remained open.
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