Mexico City • Cartel gunmen paralyzed a major Mexican city Thursday, unleashing hails of automatic gunfire in broad daylight in a staggering show of force after soldiers arrested and then released Ovidio Guzmán López, the son of infamous drug lord Joaquín Guzmán Loera.
The violence began shortly after 3:30 p.m. in the city of Culiacán, the capital of Sinaloa state, when a patrol of 30 soldiers came under attack by individuals in a home in the neighborhood of Tres Ríos, according to government officials.
After taking control of the home, the security forces encountered and detained four men — among them Guzmán López, a leader in the Sinaloa cartel.