Two Former Students Kill Vice Principal in Machete Attack at Mexican School

Attack during morning class transition

At 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, two 18-year-old twin brothers entered Escuela Secundaria Numero 13 in Ejido La Union, on the outskirts of Torreon, Coahuila. The suspects, masked former students dressed in black, were armed with machetes, firecrackers, and petrol bombs. Roughly 170 students between the ages of 12 and 15 were moving between classrooms when loud detonations echoed across the hallways. Witness accounts from students indicated that the assailants shouted threats against female staff and students as they moved through the corridors. Teenagers fled into adjacent rooms, stacking chairs and desks against the doors to barricade themselves inside while the assailants attacked individuals near the entrance and in a restroom.

Fatalities, injuries, and detention

The school vice principal died at the scene from wounds inflicted with a bladed weapon. Four other individuals sustained injuries: two teachers, a first-year student found in the restroom, and an additional woman whose medical condition was reported as stable. Spanish teacher Ricardo Quintanar was severely wounded during the assault. A second educator, Luis Carlos, engaged one of the attackers, managing to strip away a machete and petrol bombs before suffering severe wounds himself. Bystanders and neighbours in Ejido La Union intervened, tackling both brothers to the ground and disarming them until state police arrived on the scene.

Coahuila State Attorney General Federico Fernandez confirmed the casualties and arrests in an official briefing.

They are two 18-year-old brothers. These two former students arrived and attacked the staff of the institution, as well as some students, and regrettably one person, the vice principal of the educational facility, lost her life.

Investigation into motive and influences

State investigators opened a formal inquiry into the planning behind the attack, citing preliminary evidence of animosity directed at school personnel. The Coahuila state government described the incident as an isolated case involving individuals from a dysfunctional household. State prosecutor Federico Fernandez explained that the brothers had engaged with foreign mass attackers on social media forums, noting that the suspects sought to emulate those external figures. Following the attack, state officials pledged to expand preventive security protocols across regional schools, where bag checks and clear backpack mandates are commonly used. Mexico's federal Security Cabinet announced that it is working in coordination with Coahuila authorities to support the investigation.

Regional context of school violence

The Torreon attack occurred one day after a separate knife attack at a school in Queretaro, where municipal security secretary Juan Luis Ferrusca Ortiz confirmed four people were injured by an armed minor. While strict national gun control laws make armed assaults in Mexican schools rare compared to the United States, northern Mexico has witnessed several fatal incidents over the past decade. In 2017, a 15-year-old student in Monterrey killed a teacher and three peers before committing suicide with a firearm. In 2020, an 11-year-old student at Colegio Cervantes in Torreon fatally shot a teacher and wounded six classmates.