MEXICO CITY, March 3 (NNN-XINHUA) —Three people were killed and another was injured in a shooting Saturday near a hotel zone in Mexico’s famed Caribbean resort of Cancun, authorities said.
The shooting occurred around 1 p.m. local time, in broad daylight, on Bonampak Avenue in downtown Cancun, home to restaurants and bars that are popular with tourists staying in the nearby hotel zone.
Surveillance cameras captured the moment of the attack, which happened when cars were stopped at a red light.
The footage shows an assailant armed with what looks like an automatic weapon got out of a white car and walked over to a white pick-up. He then raised the weapon and fired through the windows, before getting back in the car.
One of the victims died inside the vehicle. The other two died at the hospital. The driver was injured and is undergoing treatment.
Officials in Quintana Roo state, where Cancun is located, said the victims were from Mexico’s central state of Michoacan.
It was a “direct attack between two rival groups,” the authorities said.
Quintana Roo Police Chief Alberto Capella said via Twitter that “no tourists or bystanders were injured in the attack.”
Bonampak Avenue connects downtown Cancun with the hotel zone. Police attending to the scene closed the hotel zone’s main avenue for nearly an hour while detectives collected evidence.
Cancun, a major tourism destination, has been racked by a wave of violence which authorities blame on rival drug gangs.
Quintana Roo Governor Carlos Joaquin announced a new strategy in mid-February to fight crime, admitting Cancun and other beach destinations in the Mexican Caribbean are faced with a “tough situation.” — NNN-XINHUA
