A beach in Cancun in April 2021.Photo: Medios y Media/Getty
Two suspected gang members were killed after gunmen opened fire on a Mexico beach near Cancún on Thursday.
Reports of gunmen on the beach near the Hyatt Ziva Riviera Cancun resort began surfacing on social media around 3 p.m. local time.
A short time later, the attorney general’s office in the state of Quintana Roowrote on social mediathat there had been a “confrontation” between suspected drug dealers who were members of rival gangs on the beach in Bahía Petempich, Puerto Morelos.
Two of the individuals involved were pronounced dead at the scene, according to authorities.
Guests at the Hyatt Ziva Riviera Cancun resort were reportedly escorted off the beach to shelter in place while the situation was being investigated.
Sington wrote in afollow-up tweetthat guests were being “told to shelter in the room now and lock and barricade the door.”
A spokesperson for Hyatt said in a statement to PEOPLE: “The safety and wellbeing of guests and colleagues is always a top priority. Local authorities have confirmed that the hotel may resume normal operations at Hyatt Ziva Riviera Cancun. As soon as the situation occurred, the hotel team immediately engaged local authorities who thoroughly investigated the situation. The hotel team took steps in an effort to ensure the safety of guests and colleagues, and further questions may be directed to local authorities.”
The incident comes just two weeks after two tourists were killed and three others were wounded during a shooting at a restaurant in Tulum. According to theAssociated Press, the shooting broke out during a fight between two warring groups of drug dealers in the area.
The tourists were dining at a street-side eatery and were likely caught in the crossfire, authorities told the outlet.
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The Yucatan Peninsula state of Quintana Roo includes the popular resort towns of Tulum, Playa del Carmen, and Cancún. They are located along a strip called the Riviera Maya.
The area has made headlines regarding several gruesome crimes over the past six months. In June,Vice reportedthat two people were killed on a Cancún beach after a pair of assassins on a jet ski opened fire. Also in June, officials toldThe Associated Pressthat two people were killed and another was injured in another shooting on a Tulum beach.
In September, a man was found dismembered on the side of the road in Tulum alongside a “threatening message,“according to Vice.
source: people.com
