Yesterday, two masked gunmen opened fire in a bar just outside of Cancun, killing six people and injuring five others. According to Public Safety Secretary Jesus Aiza, the two men walked into The Mermaid with automatic weapons and showered the bar with bullets. Authorities are still trying to figure out if there was a motive behind the attack, but Azia says that soldiers are guarding the hospital where the injured are being treated as a precaution.
Though Azia says that the bulk of the victims are members of a taxi driver's union, this might cause a lot of eager spring breakers to reconsider Cancun. Droves of college students are expected to flood the city, prompting officials to flood tourist areas with more soldiers and marines.
City officials are anticipating an influx of about 43,000 spring breakers this year, marking a substantial increase over last year when there were about 25,000 visitors.
Though beautiful, Mexico can be dangerous during spring break. In 1989, University of Texas at Austin student Mark Kilroy vanished in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico after traveling to South Padre Island, TX with his frat brothers. In April 1989, his mutilated body was found along with 14 others in shallow graves at a ranch known as Rancho Santa Elena.
The victims had been sacrificed by cult leaders Sara Maria Aldrete and Adolfo de Jesus Constanzo, who believed that human sacrifice protected members of the cult.
[via NY Post and KVEO News]
