TIJUANA – Five young people were shot to death Thursday afternoon and night in separate locations, the state Attorney General's Office reported.

Until midday Friday, the city had officially logged 817 violent deaths in the year, 26 less than 2008, considered the most violent in the city's history.

According to authorities, the most of the homicides are the result of infighting among the smaller criminal cells whose aim is to control the sale and distribution of illegal drugs in the region. Authorities have moved against the larger cartels that had battled to control the border area.

Around 5:20 p.m. Thursday, a man aged 20 to 25 years old was found shot to death in the rear of a house on avenida Gardenias, in the western neighborhood of Conjunto Habitacional Bugambilias.

He had been shot more than 60 times, according to the state Attorney General's Office.

Authorities found spent shell casings from AK-47s as well as cellular phones and a small digitals scale.

A few meters from the house, on avenida Jardines, a red Ford Explorer with California plates was found abandoned.

The office said that almost an hour later, investigative officers found a parked vehicle, a red Lincoln LS with California plates, in the housing project Infonavit on avenida Centenario in the Rio zone whose description matched one of the automobiles believed to have been present during the man's murder.

Inside officers found the body of another man, also thought to be 20 to 25 years old, who had been shot twice. He had a tattoo on his right arm with the image of "Santa Muerte."

At 8:10 p.m. the state office received a report of a body found thrown in front of a house in the neighborhood Jardines de Aguacaliente, in the La Mesa district.

The body of the victim, a man aged between 25 to 30 years old, was wrapped in a blanket and had a black extension cord wrapped around his neck, the office reported.

The fourth victim was found at 11:25 p.m. on Emiliano Zapata street in the Ejido Ojo de Agua neighborhood in the city's east side. The body was in a parking lot wrapped in a white sheet.

The victim was identified as Carlos Ariel Nieto Gómez, 25 to 30 years old. He had various gunshot wounds, the state office said.

About 30 minutes later the body of another man was found shot to death on Federico Gamboa street in the Otay Nueva Tijuana Módulo 1 neighborhood, in the city's northeast side.

The victim was identified as José de Jesús Monárrez, between 30 to 35 years old. He also had multiple gunshot wounds.

These deaths raised to 63 the total number of murders in the city in December.

Omar.millan@sandiegored.com