Tai Pak Wasn’t the First: Víctor Valverde Shooting Is One of at Least 126 Attacks on Sinaloa Businesses and Property Since the Cartel War Began
The Sept. 24 shooting at the Tai Pak restaurant in Culiacán’s Tres Ríos district, which wounded 21-year-old corrido singer Víctor Valverde, was not an isolated attack. Sinaloa’s state prosecutor’s office (Fiscalía General del Estado) had counted 121 attacks on properties and businesses as of Sept. 17, 2026, and five more cases documented by the press since then bring the tally to at least 126, La Silla Rota reported on Sept. 26. The outlet notes the figure also includes homes and other private property.
Our earlier coverage: the attack and Valverde’s condition and the man killed.
Two years of attacks on places the public uses
La Silla Rota dates the pattern to Sept. 9, 2024, when fighting broke out between factions of the Sinaloa Cartel. Its own review found more than 50 attacks carried out inside or in front of businesses, restaurants, shopping centers and other public places. Among the cases it lists:
- Oct. 6, 2024: gunmen shot at Crazy Roll Sushi in Culiacán, then set it on fire.
- Nov. 22, 2024: three people, including former Culiacán municipal police deputy director Benjamín Villarreal, were killed inside the Finca La Esperanza café.
- May 3, 2026: three men were killed during attacks inside and outside Plaza Cuatro Ríos, also in Tres Ríos.
- Aug. 4, 2026: content creator César Gastélum was shot dead while livestreaming from a KFC drive-thru in Tres Ríos.
The report also lists bombings of beer stores in Mazatlán and repeated attacks on clandestine mini-casinos known as “jugadas.”
Soldiers and police cordoned off another Culiacán street two days before the Tai Pak shooting:
No clear official count
According to La Silla Rota, the prosecutor’s office does not publish separate statistics for attacks on businesses. Cases are filed under different offenses, such as property damage, homicide, arson or explosives. Sinaloa newspaper Noroeste, using its own method, counted 181 attacks on homes, businesses and buildings in 2025 alone. The outlet says authorities have not disclosed a motive in most of the attacks. It also stresses that not every business targeted had any known link to illegal activity.
The cost to Sinaloa
La Silla Rota cites the employers’ group Coparmex as estimating that more than 5,000 businesses have closed and about 27,000 formal jobs have been lost during the crisis. It also cites a tally of 3,724 intentional homicides in Sinaloa over the conflict’s first two years.
Azteca Noticias’ report on the Tai Pak attack:
Sources
- La Silla Rota (Ramón Aispuro), “Sinaloa suma al menos 126 ataques contra restaurantes, bares y negocios en dos años de violencia,” Sept. 26, 2026.
- Video: Azteca Noticias (YouTube), Sept. 25, 2026.
- Photos: Especial and José Betanzos Zárate/Cuartoscuro, via La Silla Rota, Sept. 26, 2026.
Reported Sept. 26, 2026, from La Silla Rota’s account and the official figures it cites. The Narco Blog did not independently verify them. The 126 count covers homes and other property as well as businesses, and no motive has been officially established for the Tai Pak attack.