María de Jesús Quijada, Morena Councilwoman for Tecate, Baja California, Injured in Ambush

By "El Huaso" for Borderland Beat

María de Jesús Quijada, a Morena councilwoman for Tecate, Baja California, was injured in an ambush on Tuesday, July 14, 2026. Quijada remains in critical condition at a San Diego hospital, but her husband died at the scene.

Quijada and her husband were ambushed in the Hacienda subdivision of Tecate by armed men while she was in a black KIA with her husband and daughter, around 5:00 p.m. yesterday. The councilwoman sustained multiple gunshot wounds to the head, but her husband Jesús Pereida died in the attack.

Video recorded by a civilian, purportedly recording audio of the attack

Quijada's vehicle after the attack

Quijada's family told Zeta Tijuana that she is alive, in critical condition with two gunshot wounds to the head. Quijada is being treated at a hospital in San Diego, United States.

Authorities said the attackers fled in a white car, which was located minutes later in the Benito Juárez neighborhood in Tecate. The gunmen threw Molotov cocktails at it, likely to destroy evidence. No motive for the attack has been identified. 

María de Jesús Quijada and her husband Jesús Pereida

Both María de Jesús Quijada and her husband Jesús Pereida held numerous roles within local government. Quijada oversees the Welfare, Water and Energy, Protection of Children and Adolescents committees in Tecate. She also briefly served as interim mayor of Tecate in May 2026 while Mayor Román Cota Muñoz was away on an official trip. 

Jesús Pereida, a lawyer by training, worked on the campaign of Morena Senator Armando Ayala Robles. He also acted as a counselor for the State Human Rights Commission before stepping down to take on the role of Tecate Delegate for the State Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection.

Sources: Zeta Tijuana, Zona Norte, Milenio