A cartel gunman opened fire on a vehicle stopped in traffic on a highway leading into the main Hotel Zone in Cancún, leaving three dead and one injured. The shooting was captured by security video cameras.
The shooting occurred on Saturday at approximately 1 pm on Avenida Bonampak, the highway leading into Bulevar Kukulcán, which leads into the hotel zone. The security video captured the incident as traffic on Avenida Bonampak was stopped. A white Toyota Corolla can be seen in the center lane near a white GMC truck stopped in the curb lane. The front passenger of the Corolla exits with a rifle and walks toward the passenger side window of the GMC pickup and opens fire. As traffic begins to move, the GMC speeds away and the gunman quickly gets into the Corolla and reportedly gives chase, according to local media reports. The Corolla was later recovered in a different section of Cancún after it was abandoned.
The white GMC reportedly fled to Bulevar Kukulcán, where assistance was sought from the tourist police. The GMC was later determined to be occupied by four males–one who died at the scene and two others who died at local hospitals. The driver was reportedly wounded and treated at a local hospital. After his medical release, authorities arrested him after being identified as a wanted fugitive for illegal weapons possession in the Mexican state of Colima. The three deceased victims were originally from the western state of Michoacán, while the driver is from the southeastern state of Campeche, according to a statement released by the State Attorney’s General’s Office of Quintana Roo. The state attorney general said the incident was related to warring drug gangs.
Breitbart News reported last week that a cartel attack left three men dead and injured two others along one of the main avenues in Cancún. Soon after, officials clashed with the gunmen–setting off a brief firefight in the inner city. Other recent deadly incidents included an attack at a Cancún bar in mid-February, which left five dead and 12 others injured. In late January, seven men were gunned down in a Cancún residence. Seven people were also killed in early January by cartel gunmen.
Breitbart News previously reported that the ongoing violence in Cancún is attributed by officials to the cartel wars over the disputed lucrative drug markets between CJNG, Los Zetas, Gulf, and independent groups loyal to the Sinaloa Cartel. In 2018, Cancún registered 545 homicides. In 2014, a total of 21 were tallied.
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
Editor’s note: this article was updated to reflect additional information.