PLAYA DEL CARMEN: A shooting erupted during an electronic music festival at a Mexican beach resort early Monday, leaving five people dead, including one in a stampede as revelers fled in panic.
Fifteen other people were injured in the melee after a gunman opened fire on security guards preventing him from entering the Blue Parrot nightclub during the BPM festival in Playa del Carmen, the Quintana Roo state prosecutor's office said in a statement.
According to the state's governor Roberto Borge the gunfire stemmed from "a personal conflict" between two individuals.
According to local prosecutors the five deceased victims are the Canadian Kirk Wilson, the Italian Daniel Pessina, the American Alejandra Villanueva Ibarra and the Mexicans Rafael Penaloza Vega and Francisco Ruiz Murillo.
The shooting sowed terror in a part of Mexico that has been largely spared from the drug violence afflicting other parts of the country.
Playa del Carmen and nearby Cancun are in a Caribbean region known as the Mayan Riviera, which is popular among American and European tourists.
"We suddenly had to jump over the metal security barriers because they were shooting. It was horrible. We were very scared," Eric Alvarez, a 40-year-old Mexican DJ, told AFP outside the club, which has a blue parrot painted on the facade.
"A lot of people were panicking," said Alvarez, who lost his prosthetic teeth while fleeing.
The Italian man was shot dead while another man died from bullet wounds at a hospital, according to local prosecutors.
"Witnesses said that a person tried to enter the establishment with a weapon but was blocked by security guards, triggering the attack," said the statement from Pech's office.
Prosecutor Miguel Angel Pech said two people, apparently security guards, had fired back at the assailant.
Four people were detained near the scene of the crime and authorities are investigating if they were connected to the shooting, he added.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.