Gunfight and identification
Harfuch announced the deaths on October 28, two days after the confrontation. The joint Navy and Security Secretariat account says naval intelligence led personnel to vehicles occupied by armed people. Two men left a pickup, took cover in brush and fired at the approaching personnel. Navy personnel fired back, killing both men.
Authorities secured the scene for prosecutors and reported seizing four pickup trucks listed as stolen, three long guns, three magazines and 46 cartridges. The evidence was collected for the case handled by Mexico's Attorney General's Office, known as the FGR. Neither statement reported any arrests.
In his announcement on X, Harfuch described the operation as progress toward restoring peace in Sinaloa. He named González Peñuelas as one of those killed and noted the U.S. reward.
Relatives offered possible identities for both bodies, according to an October 28 report by El Diario de Chihuahua citing Agencia Reforma. The newspaper said family members told prosecutors they could be Jesús "N", known as "Chuy Peñuelas", and Cesáreo "N". Those accounts do not replace the forensic confirmation still required.
The location also remains imprecise. The joint statement identifies the locality of Alfredo V. Bonfil in Sinaloa, without specifying the exact site. An earlier report, based on local accounts, placed the confrontation near Guasave.
The fugitive's alleged role and U.S. record
Mexican authorities place González Peñuelas below Fausto Isidro Meza Flores, known as El Chapo Isidro, in the Cártel de Guasave hierarchy. Harfuch described him as an operator for the group, which takes its name from the northern Sinaloa city of Guasave.
El País reported on October 28 that González Peñuelas had worked with both Meza Flores and Rafael Caro Quintero. The newspaper described him as heading an organization that ranked among northern Mexico's largest sources of opium gum and heroin trafficking.
The State Department's reward notice identifies him as Jesus Gonzalez Penuelas, also known as Chuy Gonzalez, and gives his birth year as 1969. The reward, announced in January 2024, offers up to $5 million for information leading to his arrest or conviction. He is also listed as a fugitive by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
According to the U.S. Treasury Department, his Sinaloa-based organization has supplied methamphetamine and heroin to the United States since 2007 and maintained distribution cells in six U.S. states. Treasury says he was indicted in Southern California in 2017 and Colorado in 2018. These descriptions of his criminal role are government allegations, not court findings.
Treasury first sanctioned González Peñuelas under a U.S. drug-kingpin law on May 12, 2021. It imposed sanctions again on May 20, 2026, identifying him as a Sinaloa Cartel cell leader. The State Department's designation of the Sinaloa Cartel as a foreign terrorist organization was published on February 20, 2025.
Treasury attributes a significant share of the illicit fentanyl that kills tens of thousands of Americans annually to the Sinaloa Cartel. Mexican officials credited their own naval intelligence for the October operation; their statements identified no participating U.S. agency. The Rio Times reported finding no U.S. statement on the reported death by midday on October 28. Whether the reward could be paid following his death remained unanswered.
Guasave's place in Sinaloa's factional conflict
The Guasave Cartel entered the conflict between rival Sinaloa factions in May 2025, according to Cartel Insider, citing Milenio and FGR sources. The outlet reported that Meza Flores ended his group's neutral stance and backed Los Mayos, led by Ismael Zambada Sicairos, known as El Mayito Flaco, against Los Chapitos. It linked that alliance to waves of violence in Mocorito, Guamúchil, Salvador Alvarado and Angostura.
In a January 12, 2026, report, El País cited security sources who regarded Meza Flores's organization as the main beneficiary of the cartel infighting. The newspaper described a major drug production and trafficking operation involving synthetic drugs, including fentanyl and methamphetamine, concentrated in northern Sinaloa, particularly Los Mochis and Guasave. It also reported that Meza Flores had joined the FBI's 10 most wanted fugitives list a few months earlier.
That report also detailed operations against figures in his faction. Mexican marines killed Pedro Inzunza Coronel, known as El Pichón, in Choix, Sinaloa, in December 2025. On New Year's Eve, the National Guard arrested his father, Pedro Inzunza Noriega, known as Sagitario, 62, in Culiacán. El País described those events as a blow to a pillar of El Chapo Isidro's faction.
Treasury said in May that fighting between cartel factions had killed more than 600 people in Sinaloa since September 2024. At her October 28 morning news conference, President Claudia Sheinbaum said homicides had increased over the preceding two months, with a particular rise in recent weeks.
Federal presence and travel restrictions
Sheinbaum told Sinaloa residents that the government would continue working to protect them and said Harfuch was meeting the governor that day. The Navy's statement also committed federal forces to maintaining their presence in the state. Whether the reported killing would prompt retaliation was not known.
The State Department advises Americans not to travel to Sinaloa because of crime. Its rules allow U.S. government employees to visit only Mazatlán, Los Mochis and Topolobampo, and only by air or sea. Travelers should consult the current advisory before making a trip.
