(UnitedHeadlines.com) – A May 12 shooting in the municipality of Huitzilac, Mexico, left eight people dead.
The victims, seven of whom were ages 29 to 50, were killed in the shooting that occurred near a resort area south of Mexico City. Four people died at the hospital, while four people died at the scene, according to the state of Morelos prosecutor’s office.
Huitzilac Mayor Rafael Vargas said the attack was “a terrible violent act” that occurred “right in the center of town.” He called for an end to the violence that has plagued the area.
The crime in Huitzilac has increased as a result of drug gangs, kidnappers, and illegal loggers, in part because the mountain township provides criminals with the closest rural hideout to Mexico City. A popular vacation destination, the state of Morelos borders the state of Guerrero, where many different drug cartels operate.
The deaths are the latest to occur in the area. At the beginning of May, police found 18 bodies, nine of which had messages addressed to a criminal group, in the northern Mexican state of Zacatecas, an area suffering from drug cartel-related violence. A key transit point for drugs, the state has one the highest per-capita homicide rates of any Mexican state. In April, a journalist in Morelos was killed after taking his daughter to school. A correspondent for the magazine Proceso, Jaime Luis Brito, said, “Every day we count victims.” Nine people were killed in Cuernavaca after an armed confrontation between alleged criminals and police in November 2023.
Journalists and politicians have been among those targeted by attacks. Since the beginning of 2024, at least 14 candidates have been killed. Since 2000, more than 141 Mexican journalists and media workers have been killed, including 61 of them killed in retaliation for their work.
Since the government launched a controversial anti-drug offensive involving the military in 2006, more than 450,000 people have been killed across the country.
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