Five are dead and another five are wounded after gunmen broke down the door and opened fire inside a drug rehab clinic in Salamanca, Guanajuato last night. Police attempted to chase the assailants, but their vehicles were disabled when the fleeing men dropped caltrops on the road, disabling three police vehicles.

The attack occurred around 9:00 p.m., when Police received reports of gunfire inside an “anexo”, a drug rehab clinic in the south of the city of Salamanca, Guanajuato. Police rushed to scene, followed by paramedics. They found four dead with another five injured by gunfire. A fifth murdered victim was found on the street. The metal door to the facility had been rammed down by the assailants vehicle. 

The gunmen were fleeing the scene when first responders arrived. However, they were able to escape due to the use of “poncha llantas” (tire spikes/caltrops) scattered on Valle de Santiago street, which disabled three police vehicles.

This event ties together two key strategies employed by criminal groups in Mexico: the systematic targeting of drug rehab clinics to kill potential rival recruits; and the use of poncha llantas to disable and slow police movements.

Poncha llantas captured by Guanajuato security forces in 2022.

Attacks like these are common in Guanajuato state, the most violent region in Mexico for the last several years. Businesses are often targeted by organized crime for failing to pay extorsion rents or allowing rival drugs to be sold on premises, while drug rehab clinics are attacked as criminal groups fear that they may provide hiding places as well as potential recruiting pipelines for rival groups.