EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – El Paso and its sister city of Juarez, Mexico, recorded double-digit increases in homicides in 2023.
In Juarez, Chihuahua state officials reported 1,163 homicides last year compared with the revised number of 1,054 in 2022. That’s a 10.4% increase. Police officials in that Mexican border city say most murders are drug-related. Several involved burning, dismemberment and multiple victims.
The 2023 numbers indicate an average of 3.2 daily killings. That’s still far short of the 8.5 daily average homicides reported in Juarez in 2010 – the deadliest year of an all-out war between the Juarez and the Sinaloa cartels. In 2023, one mass shooting claimed the lives of 10 prison guards and seven inmates during the bloody escape of 30 inmates from Cereso No. 3 prison in Juarez on New Year’s Day.
El Paso recorded 38 homicides in 2023, compared to only 23 the previous year – a 65% increase, according to a KTSM analysis of police reports. That’s the highest total since 2019 – the year a gunman from North Texas came to town intent on “killing Mexicans” and murdered 23 border residents. The homicide toll in 2019 was 40.
The 38 homicides in 2023 in El Paso include seven cases of vehicular homicide. The bulk of the remaining 31 cases involved botched drug deals and fights outside bars or house parties, and some confrontations involving teenagers or young adults.
El Paso Police Department officials said the city’s homicide rate remains below other comparable American cities and that it could not immediately pinpoint a reason for the increase.
“Our department is committed to rigorously investigating each case to bring justice to the victims and their families,” El Paso police said in an email to Border Report. “Historically, murder rates do fluctuate, and El Paso has been fortunate to have had a low rate compared to other cities of similar size.”
The year’s first homicide happened on Jan. 21 outside Jack’s Beach House Bar in the 11200 block of Montwood Drive. Police say a 47-year-old was fatally shot.
In total, four people were killed in shootings near bars. Two happened outside the Ditzy Duck in the 1100 block of Airway Boulevard on July 13, where several other bars are also located. The fourth bar murder happened in October outside El Jaguar on North Mesa Street in El Paso’s West Side.
Last year’s homicides also included several teenage victims. The first happened on Feb. 15 at Cielo Vista Mall, where shots rang out, killing 17-year-old Angeles Zaragoza and injuring several others. A 16-year-old juvenile was charged with that crime.
Just days later, Jasmine Adame, 16, was killed in an apparent drug deal in Far East El Paso. El Paso police arrested 23-year-old Cesar Roa on suspicion of murder in her death. Police say Gabriel Martinez, 16, was also killed during a drug deal on June 18 in Far East El Paso. Two teens are charged with Martinez’s death.
El Paso police investigate a homicide in a shopping center in the West Side.
A pair of teens, Eliel Omar Bultron Hernandez, 19, and Julia Worthington, 14, were killed at a house party at a vacation rental home in Far East El Paso on Sept. 14. Police arrested 18-year-old Angel Avila on suspicion of the double murder in November after several months of investigation.
One of this year’s most shocking crimes is the murder of Daniel Piedra Garcia, 52. Garcia worked as an Uber driver when he picked up 48-year-old Phoebe Copas to take her to Speaking Rock Casino in June. Garcia was shot and killed while driving near the US-54/Loop 375 interchange. Copas maintains she believed Garcia was kidnapping her to Mexico, and she was in fear for her life.
A review of the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report shows that, save for 2019, El Paso had not recorded so many homicides in one year since 1995. That was preceded by a three-year stretch of 50+ homicides. Records show 52 homicides committed in El Paso in 1991, 50 in 1992 and 56 in 1993 – the highest total ever recorded in this Far West Texas border city.
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