8 killed in Mexico vigil shooting

Mexico City: Eight people were killed and 14 others injured after assailants opened fire on mourners attending a vigil in Mexico’s Cuernavaca city, a popular weekend getaway, officials said.

Witnesses said the attackers arrived in vehicles at a private residence in the city’s Antonio Barona neighbourhood, and fired on the people who were walking alongside the body of a young man who had died in a motorcycle accident, reports Xinhua news agency.

The Attorney General’s Office of Morelos state and police said in a statement on Wednesday that two teenagers, aged 15 and 16, were among the victims of the attack, which occurred at 10.40 p.m. on Tuesday.

Four of the victims died on the spot, and the others on the way to the



hospital or while receiving treatment.

The injured included three women and two minors, the statement said.

Authorities said the preliminary investigation implicated local organised crime.

“According to the initial forensic study of the ballistic material, the large calibre weapons used in the incident appear to be related to other high-impact crimes recently registered,” the authorities said, adding some 40 shots were fired.

Cuernavaca, the capital of Morelos state where many well-to-do residents have weekend homes, has in recent years seen a rise in drug-related crime as it lies on the trafficking route between southern Mexico and the northern border with the US.