At least one Canadian dead after shooting at Mexican nightclub
Posted Jan 16, 2017 08:03:57 AM.
Last Updated Jan 16, 2017 05:03:40 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
CANCUN, Mexico – At least one Canadian is among five people killed today in a shooting attack at an electronic music festival in Mexico’s Caribbean coast resort of Playa del Carmen.
The attorney general of Quintana Roo state said that several of the dead appear to have been part of the security detail at the 10-day BPM electronic music festival.
Miguel Angel Pech said the shooting occurred about 2:30 a.m. at the Blue Parrot nightclub, one of the BPM Festival’s venues in Playa del Carmen, just south of Cancun.
Pech said a lone gunman apparently entered the nightclub and began to exchange fire with another person inside. Festival security personnel tried to stop the shooting and came under fire.
Pech said it was not any kind of terrorist attack.
But the shooting apparently caused a rush of people heading for the exits at the beach-side club, and the lone female victim was apparently killed during the stampede.
Pech said 15 people were injured, one seriously. He said five of the injured had been treated for less serious injuries at local hospitals and released.
He said three people had been detained nearby, but it was unclear if they had been involved in the shooting.
Rodolfo Del Angel, director of police in the state of Quintana Roo, told the Milenio TV station that he shooting was the result of “a disagreement between people inside” the nightclub and said security guards had come under fire when they tried to contain the dispute.
The BPM Festival posted a statement saying four people had been killed and 12 injured in an attack that involved “a lone shooter.”
BPM wrote that “the violence began on 12th street in front of the club and three members of the BPM security team were among those whose lives were lost while trying to protect patrons inside the venue.”
Playa del Carmen has largely been spared the violence that has hit other parts of Mexico.
A spokeswoman for Global Affairs Canada says it was able to confirm at least one Canadian fatality among the victims and were looking to verifying about the second reported Canadian death.
