At least 12 killed in mass shooting at Christmas party in Mexico: “When they were asked who they were, they started shooting”

At the least 12 folks have been killed and one other dozen have been wounded in an assault early Sunday on a pre-Christmas get together in central Mexico, authorities within the state of Guanajuato stated. The bloodbath was certainly one of at the very least three mass shootings in Mexico over the weekend.

The violence occurred within the city of Salvatierra, reportedly at a hacienda, or ranch, that may be rented out for festivities.

“To this point 12 persons are reported lifeless,” the state’s prosecutor’s office said on X, the previous Twitter. Twelve others who have been wounded have been taken to hospitals, based on authorities.

The Tierra Negra basis, which promotes social initiatives within the space, stated the victims have been younger folks collaborating in “posadas,” non secular gatherings that commemorate features of the story of Christmas.

An individual who was on the get together however requested to not be recognized for safety causes advised AFP that about six males with lengthy weapons entered the venue and commenced circulating among the many 100 or so younger folks gathered on the occasion.

“We realized they weren’t invited, and once they have been requested who they have been, they began taking pictures,” he stated.

The victims have been “all younger acquaintances, admired and excellent folks. It is a horror what is occurring in Salvatierra,” Tierra Negra member Carlos Silva wrote on social media.

“I condemn the unlucky act of violence that occurred in the neighborhood of San Jose del Carmen this morning. We’re totally cooperating with the prosecutor’s workplace,” Salvatierra Mayor German Cervantes posted on Fb.

Diego Sinhue Rodríguez, the governor of the state of Guanajuato, vowed that authorities would “discover the whereabouts of these accountable for this unlucky occasion.”

“My condolences to the households,” he wrote on social media.

Three years in the past, within the metropolis of some 90,000, authorities found unmarked graves with at the very least 50 our bodies.

Guanajuato is without doubt one of the most violent states in Mexico, due largely to the presence and exercise of legal gangs — together with a pair of feuding drug cartels. Earlier this month, the bodies of five university students have been discovered stuffed in a car on a dust highway in Guanajuato.

For years, the Santa Rosa de Lima cartel has fought a bloody turf conflict with the Jalisco cartel for management of Guanajuato.

The Jalisco cartel is understood for producing hundreds of thousands of doses of lethal fentanyl and smuggling them into the US disguised to appear to be Xanax, Percocet or oxycodone. Such capsules trigger about 70,000 overdose deaths per yr in the US.

At the least 7 killed in different weekend assaults

In a separate incident late Saturday about 30 miles away from Salvatierra, 4 males have been shot lifeless within the metropolis of Salamanca, additionally in Guanajuato, when attackers on bikes arrived at a barber store and opened hearth, native officers stated.

Related assaults have been recorded lately in Guanajuato, which this yr topped the checklist of states with essentially the most homicides in Mexico, with 3,029 thus far, based on official figures.

In the meantime, within the Caribbean coast resort of Tulum, three males have been shot to loss of life and 4 folks have been wounded in an assault at a bar Sunday, authorities stated.

Quintana Roo state prosecutors stated a preliminary investigation indicated the taking pictures “could have been a dispute involving retail drug gross sales, and for that cause the security of the general public and that of our guests, was by no means in danger.”

However shootouts between native drug gangs in Tulum have killed vacationers who have been caught within the crossfire up to now.

In 2021 in Tulum, two vacationers – one a California journey blogger born in India and the opposite German – have been killed whereas consuming at a restaurant. They apparently have been caught within the crossfire of a gunfight between rival drug sellers.

Early this yr, the U.S. State Division issued a travel alert warning vacationers to “train elevated situational consciousness” particularly after darkish, at Mexico’s Caribbean seaside resorts like Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum.

The Related Press contributed to this report.