2 Women Among 4 Arrested in Mérida Shooting of Alleged Los Chapitos Boss ‘El Marce’ — Suspects Were Fleeing Toward Campeche, Reports Say
Yucatán’s Public Security Secretariat (SSP) now says four people — two men and two women — have been detained over Friday’s shooting in Mérida’s Montes de Amé neighborhood of José Marcelino “N,” alias “El Marce,” a man Quintana Roo prosecutors arrested in Cancún in 2025 as the alleged leader of a Los Chapitos cell. Our Oct. 2 report cited the SSP’s first count of two men arrested; the agency raised it to four later that day, Yucatán Ahora, Sol Yucatán and Yucatán Magazine reported on Oct. 3, 2026.
Caught on the way out of Yucatán
According to Yucatán Ahora, the SSP said the four were intercepted as they tried to flee toward Campeche and will be handed to the state prosecutor’s office (FGE), which will decide their legal status. Authorities have not released their names or said what role each is suspected of playing. Yucatán Magazine reported that the SSP described one of the four as an accused female shooter.
Accounts of where the arrests happened differ. Yucatán Magazine said regional outlets placed the first two arrests at a checkpoint in Maxcanú, on the highway to Campeche, but that the SSP has not confirmed any location. Por Esto said a couple was caught at a checkpoint on the Hunucmá–Ucú road.
A red motorcycle and a gray Chevrolet Beat
Por Esto reported that police seized a red, unplated Italika FT125 motorcycle allegedly abandoned after the shots were fired, and that the pair who fired then continued their escape in a gray Chevrolet Beat. The wounded man remains stable, the SSP said, and was able to give investigators information. Neither the SSP nor the FGE has publicly named him; the “El Marce” identification comes from news reports.
Still unexplained: how he got out
Por Esto noted that Quintana Roo prosecutors said in June 2025 that he had faced a warrant since April 2023 over the killings of four men, but their public statements do not show how he regained his freedom. Investigators have not said whether the attack is tied to a dispute between criminal groups, Yucatán Magazine reported. Yucatán, which recorded 17 homicides from January through August according to federal figures cited by the magazine, carries the State Department’s lowest advisory level; for neighboring Quintana Roo, see our Cancún and Tulum safety guide.
Sources
- Yucatán Ahora, “Cuatro detenidos tras los hechos violentos en Montes de Amé,” Oct. 3, 2026
- Sol Yucatán, “Ya son 4 los detenidos por el atentado en Montes de Amé,” Oct. 3, 2026
- Yucatán Magazine, “4 Arrested in Shooting of Alleged Crime Boss in Mérida,” Oct. 3, 2026
- Por Esto (J. Quintal), “¿Quién es El Marce? El hombre atacado a balazos en Mérida que fue objetivo prioritario en Quintana Roo,” Oct. 3, 2026
- Photos: Yucatán SSP, via Sol Yucatán; SSP video screengrab, via Yucatán Magazine
Reported Oct. 4, 2026, from the Mexican news reports listed above. The Narco Blog did not independently verify the allegations. The four detainees have not been named or charged, and “El Marce” has not been convicted of any crime; all are presumed innocent.