Mexican Beach Shootout Wounds Bystanders, Including Tourist
Mexican Beach Shootout Wounds Bystanders, Including Tourist
(Bloomberg) -- Four people were injured, at least one of them a tourist, after gunmen opened fire at a luxury beach resort just outside Cancun on Thursday and killed two presumed drug dealers, the latest sign that violence risks hurting a recovery in Mexico’s tourism sector.
The tourist was hit by glass during the attack, which caused beach goers in bathing suits to flee into their hotel rooms or be taken to safe spots by staff, Puerto Morelos Mayor Blanca Merari told Mexico’s W Radio.
Fifteen attackers stormed the beach near two luxury hotels and shot the drug dealers from a rival gang, one of whom ran into a hotel before dying, the state prosecutor’s office said late Thursday. One person was injured badly enough to require hospital treatment, but the office declined to identify whether the wounded person was a tourist. Both Merari and prosecutors said none of the injuries were serious.
The deadly attack comes just days after Mexico stationed 450 troops in nearby Tulum where two foreign tourists were killed in another drug-related shooting at a resort popular with celebrities. Cancun and beaches just south of the top tourist spot have been hit by violence in recent years as groups war over drug dealing and trafficking territory.
The southeastern state of Quintana Roo, which encompass a strip of beach resorts including Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum, received 6 million tourists between foreigners and locals this year through July.
Thursday’s attack took place a few months after police arrested top members of two criminal organizations, leaving them without leaders, Merari said. These attacks won’t help a nascent tourism recovery following the Covid-19 pandemic, she said.
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