‘Hero’ priest saves kids from El Chapo gang war as man decapitated inside church

A hero priest saved three kids from being shot in a gang war as a church was left riddled with bullets, grenades and a beheaded body.

Father Enrique Urzúa, pastor of the Lady of Guadalupe cathedral in the state of Chihuahua, stumbled upon a “heart-breaking situation” on Tuesday, he revealed to ACI Prensa.

Two brutal Mexican gangs, El Chapo Calín and Los Reyes, took refuge in the house of prayer as they engaged in a bloody shoot-out.

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The organised crime groups littered the Catholic church with holes as they battled it out in the settlement of Santa Anita.

Cops also found a 21-year-old man who had been decapitated in the atrium of the church.

The priest encountered three kids, aged one, nine and 11, who had been abandoned in the warzone, which had left the church “completely blasted”.

“I came across three children who are without their parents and who were there, abandoned”, Enrique said.

Police also found more than 700 bullet casings, a grenade, and a Chevrolet pickup truck which had been “completely charred”, according to the state attorney general’s office.

Enrique claimed that the attack on the cathedral must have been intentional as there were “too many bullet” holes inside and out for them to be stray shots.

“I don’t think that an armed gang can have something against us, against the Church. I don’t want to think that, but this is the fact,” he added.

“It’s sad what we are experiencing, where we are living. It is not something passing, it’s something permanent.”

In just April 2023 alone, the state of Chihuahua saw 567 first-degree murders recorded, according to the Catholic news agency.

Enrique told Mexican newspaper, La Jornada: “Civil authorities, do your job, we feel alone.

“We feel that there is no one who is with us, who accompanies us and protects us. May the Lord give you the necessary wisdom.”

This year, 11,475 homicides have reportedly been recorded throughout Mexico as the nation sees the most violent period in its recent history.