The confrontation was between two criminal groups who are fighting for control of the drug trade and those who died were from the ranches of La Tuna, Los Licitos and San Jose del Barranco, all from the same municipality.
La Tuna is where the family of "El Chapo" Guzman lives, and from the time he managed to escape the Navy has strengthened its operations in Mexico to locate him.
One of the men who died was Cristóbal Muro Valdez, El 02, who was the bodyguard of Aureliano Guzman Loera, "El Guano", who used to lived in San Jose del Barraco.
Muro Valdez was a lieutenant in Guzman Loera's group, and had one of the highest ranks, he was responsible to find and oversee the location of land for the cultivation of narcotics in the Golden Triangle. He was a friend of the Salgueiro brothers, who control the area on the Chihuahua side, in the municipality of Guadalupe and Calvo.
The other men who were killed were identified as Ezequiel Lazcano, Germán Muro; brothers Gabriel and Manuel Valdez, Jesús Enrique Sepúlveda and brothers Ricardo and Masiel Arenías.
According to residents of the area, the funeral of "El 02" was heavily guarded by the Navy, because they hoped El Chapo's family will attend or Chapo Guzman himself.
Also today at around 7:25 pm Luis Alberto Muro Valdez, 35 years old was found dead is the Culiacan prison. He was found hanging from a cord in the bathroom according to El Debate,