At least seven people have been shot dead at a swimming pool in Mexico. The victims are a seven-year-old child, three women and three men, according to the city of Cortazar in the state of Guanajuato. Another person was said to have been seriously injured.
According to the operator of the leisure facility, the perpetrators appeared yesterday afternoon (local time), opened fire and took the surveillance cameras and the associated monitor with them before they fled.
The background of the fact is unclear. In a video that was circulated in the Mexican media, a man apparently reported shortly after the crime that around 20 men with rapid-fire weapons were in the swimming pool.
Cartels fight each other
The central Mexican state of Guanajuato is one of the regions of the country where the violence that has been rampant for years has reached particularly bad proportions. Last year, there were 31,936 homicides across Mexico, a population of around 126 million — and that’s just the official number.
Numerous drug cartels and other criminal groups fight for control of areas of influence and smuggling routes. They often have ties to corrupt politicians and security forces who have been waging a drug war since 2006. Most homicides are never solved.
