Four cartel gunmen carrying rifles and handguns stormed into a bar in the tourist resort city of Cancun and began firing indiscriminately. The attack on Friday left five dead and 12 others injured.

The shooting took place Friday night at approximately 11:43 p.m., according to a local media report. The attack took place at the La Kuka Bar located at Avenida José López Portillo and Súper Manzana 60 Manzanas 8, within the municipality of Benito Juarez where Cancun is located.

Initial reports indicate that the gunmen entered the establishment armed with one rifle and four handguns. Without warning, the cartel gunmen began firing indiscriminately at employees and bar patrons. Following the attack, the gunmen fled in an unknown direction in two different vehicles. The La Kuka is a strip club located in one of the highest crime areas of Cancun. The area is located just west of the primary tourist zone.

Local news reports indicate that responding ministerial police located two individuals believed to be part of the hit team responsible for the killings. Investigators at the crime scene located at least 16 shell casings of various caliber ammo. These included .223 and .45 caliber rounds throughout the establishment.

There have been five recent attacks at bars in Cancun and the nearby resort city of Playa del Carmen. All of the attacks are believed to have been perpetrated by criminal gangs tied to drug cartels. The most recent occurred in Playa del Carmen last month when two gunmen stormed a bar and killed seven people.

Officials in Cancun reported 60 homicides this year while Playa del Carmen tallied 27, according to records from the state attorney generals office as reported in local media. In 2018, Cancun broke its all-time record for homicides with 546 recorded.

Breitbart Texas has reported extensively on the formerly peaceful Cancún which continues to experience shocking levels of cartel violence.

Cancun Homicide Cases Per Year

Robert Arce is a retired Phoenix Police detective with extensive experience working Mexican organized crime and street gangs. Arce has worked in the Balkans, Iraq, Haiti, and recently completed a three-year assignment in Monterrey, Mexico, working out of the Consulate for the United States Department of State, International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Program, where he was the Regional Program Manager for Northeast Mexico (Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Durango, San Luis Potosi, Zacatecas.) You can follow him on Twitter. He can be reached at robertrarce@gmail.com.