Search Activist and Daughter Shot in Culiacán, Sinaloa

Investigation and Legal Classification of the Culiacán Attack

According to a statement from the Fiscalía General del Estado de Sinaloa cited by ABC Noticias, state prosecutors opened an official investigation into the shooting under the classification of attempted feminicide. Investigators are examining whether the assault is directly tied to Rojo Medina’s ongoing activism and her work as a founding member of Voces Unidas por la Vida, a group dedicated to locating disappeared persons. The case has been transferred to a specialized unit focusing on gender-based crimes against women, supported by investigative police forces and forensic personnel. The vehicle carrying the activist sustained heavy damage from gunfire, with visible bullet impacts across the body and the windshield, according to local reporting gathered by El Universal. Neighbors alerted emergency services after the gunmen opened fire on the moving truck from the southwest sector of Culiacán. Local authorities have placed both survivors under protective guard while they receive medical treatment.

Activism and Historical Context in Sinaloa

Rojo Medina launched her search efforts after her brother, Miguel Ángel Rojo Medina, disappeared in 2009 in Pueblos Unidos, south of Culiacán, after stepping out to buy water and never returning. She has learned search techniques ranging from field searches in hills and thickets to public cemetery exhumations, eventually establishing Voces Unidas por la Vida with support from the Comisión de Defensa de los Derechos Humanos de Sinaloa. El Universal notes that the disappearance occurred during a period when official missing-person registries in the state logged significantly lower totals compared to recent surges. This assault marks the second targeted attack against Rojo Medina since she joined the search movement in May 2014 alongside Sandra Luz Hernández, another member of the collective who was shot and killed in Culiacán that same year while searching for her missing son. ABC Noticias notes that the latest violence unfolds amid a severe security crisis in Sinaloa, which escalated in September 2024 due to armed confrontations between factions of the Sinaloa Cartel known as Los Chapitos and La Mayiza following the apprehension of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada in the United States.

Demands for Protection from Search Collectives

Following the shooting, the search collective Sabuesos Guerreras A.C. issued a public statement condemning the assault and demanding an immediate, thorough, and transparent investigation to identify both the material and intellectual authors, as reported by El Universal. The organization expressed deep outrage over the violence and warned that the attack serves as a direct threat to all human rights defenders and family members searching for missing persons in the region. “Quienes buscamos a nuestros seres queridos no deberíamos enfrentar el terror ni la muerte por ejercer una labor que le corresponde al Estado”, stated the Sabuesos Guerreras organization in text reported by ABC Noticias. The collective called on state authorities to abandon their passive stance and immediately implement security measures to protect Rojo Medina, her family, and all members of regional search groups.