In the early hours of the morning this Thursday, after intense intelligence and coordination tasks between Mendoza and La Rioja, the detention of a 31-year-old man, accused of being one of the subjects who injured from a shot to son of the Yaqui last January. The joint operation was carried out by the Homicide Division and Investigations personnel from both provinces.
The subject arrested, alias “Emita”, was wanted for his involvement in an attempted “homicide aggravated by the use of a firearm.” The events date back to January 29, 2024, when Mauro Jesús Gélvez Vargas, son of the well-known Sandra Jaquelina Vargas, alias “la Yaqui”, was seriously injured in a shooting near the sports center in the Los Paraísos neighborhood.
Police personnel had precise information on the whereabouts of the 31-year-old man. The data indicated that the suspect was hiding in a goat stall in San Isidro, department of Rosario Vera Peñaloza, about 60 kilometers from the city of Chepes, La Rioja. This place is owned by a man, known as “Pilin”, who was facilitating the hiding of the fugitive.
After obtaining the search warrant from the Judiciary of La Rioja and Mendoza, the authorities burst into the goat stall, resulting in the arrest of the accused man. He arrested He will be transferred to Mendoza to continue with the procedural measures under the supervision of prosecutor Gustavo Pirrello in charge of the Investigative Prosecutor’s Office 17 of the Homicide Prosecutor’s Unit.
The police record dates back to January 29, when the attack occurred that left Yaqui’s son injured. He was riding his motorcycle near the sports center in the Los Paraisos neighborhood of Godoy Cruz. Along with other still unidentified subjects, he fired between six and seven times, one of the projectiles hitting the victim’s back and exiting through the abdomen. Gélvez Vargas was rushed to El Carmen Hospital, where he received medical attention.
According to police sources at that time, the incident was part of a territorial dispute between rival gangs for control of the sale of narcotics in the Campo Papa neighborhood and other surrounding neighborhoods.
For now, authorities continue working to identify and arrest the other suspects and perpetrators involved in the shooting.
