With a nearly record-breaking July in the books, Sonora is well on its way to another recording-breaking year for violence.

There were 189 murder victims last month in Sonora, just short of the grisly figure from April, the most violent month in the state since at least 1997, the earliest year such federal crime data are available.

Over the first seven months of 2021, the state has logged 1,152 murder victims. That’s 30% higher than the total for the same period in 2020, which holds the current annual record. With five months of data left to report in the year, Sonora appears to be well on its way to setting a new tragic record.

In his daily press conference Tuesday, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador acknowledged rising violence in the state and said the federal government is taking action, especially in Ciudad Obregon, which has been the phenomenon’s epicenter for years.