Key takeaways:
- According to a spokesman for the Department of Global Affairs, the department is aware of a shooting incident in Mexico involving three Canadian citizens.
- All three victims were Canadians, according to Gutiérrez, who said they were immediately taken to the hospital, where one of them died.
According to Global Affairs Canada, two Canadian citizens were killed in Mexico on Saturday, a day after local officials in the nation reported a shooting at a resort near Playa del Carmen that wounded a third person.
A spokesman for Global Affairs stated that the department is aware of a shooting incident in Mexico that included three Canadian citizens.
Two Canadians were murdered, and another was harmed in a shooting at Hotel Xcaret, south of Playa del Carmen, according to local officials in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo.
Lucio Hernández Gutiérrez, the state security secretary of Quintana Roo, affirmed the triple shooting on Twitter.
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All three victims were identified as Canadians, and Gutiérrez said they were taken to the hospital right away, where one of them died.
Gutiérrez also released photos of the alleged shooter, asking for any information to lead to the person’s arrest. One photo shows the person holding a handgun.
Later, the state prosecutor’s office in Quintana Roo confirmed on Twitter that another of the injured people had died.
As per the state prosecutor’s office, the shooting accused was a guest.
Global Affairs Canada issued a statement late Friday evening saying, “Consular officials are attempting to contact local authorities to assemble more information and stand prepared to provide consular assistance.”
“No further details can be released due to privacy concerns.”
On Friday, public safety analyst Chris Lewis told CTV News Channel there is still a lot to learn about the people involved, including when they arrived in Mexico, where the gun used came from, and whether they had any business or criminal ties.
“I don’t think this will go on for long before someone is arrested,” he said. “But there’s a lot of investigation to be done, both forensically and otherwise, so they’ll be all over this one.”
The shooting comes after two people were killed in a similar incident on the beach of Puerto Morelos in November. Authorities said that 15 gunmen from a gang were involved in a dispute over drug sales in the area.
In Tulum, to the south, 2 tourists — one a California travel blogger born in India and the other a German — were killed in October when they were caught in the crossfire of rival drug dealers.
Following the shooting, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador dispatched nearly 1,500 members of the National Guard to the area to beef up security.
Source: CTV News
