Five people have been killed at a crowded nightclub in the popular Caribbean tourist destination of Playa del Carmen, Mexico,
when an armed man who had been denied entry opened fire inside the
club, prompting a gun battle and a stampede, officials said.
Four
of the victims, including three members of the security team that had
blocked the gunman’s entry, were hit by bullets, and the fifth victim
was trampled in the resulting pandemonium, the authorities said.
The
shooting occurred at the Blue Parrot nightclub, which was hosting the
final night of the BPM Festival, an international electronic music event
that draws fans from around the world.
The
gunman entered the club around 2:30 a.m., but was turned away at the
door because he was carrying a weapon, said Miguel Ángel Pech, the state
attorney for Quintana Roo State, on the Yucatán Peninsula. The man then
opened fire, and as patrons threw themselves to the ground or rushed
for the exits, security guards at the club “repelled” the attacker, Mr.
Pech said, adding that the guards were apparently armed.
The
victims included two Canadians, a Colombian, an Italian and a Mexican,
and at least 15 other people were injured, including at least three
Americans, the authorities said.
The
gunman has not been captured or identified, but several people were
detained soon after the shooting and were being held for questioning,
officials said. Mr. Pech, speaking at a news conference on Monday
morning, did not suggest why the gunman had tried to enter the club with
a weapon, but he said the attack was not an act of terrorism.
In
an interview with Foro TV later in the day, the state attorney said
that investigators had not discounted the possibility that the attack
had something to do with a fight between criminal groups or with an
extortion racket.
Investigators
at the scene have recovered 20 casings from three firearms, officials
said, though it remained unclear whether some of the bullets had been
fired by weapons belonging to the security personnel or, perhaps, to one
or more patrons.
Humera
Hamad, a resident of El Paso, Tex., who was on vacation in Playa del
Carmen, said she was in the club when the shooting started. “I couldn’t
see anything,” she said in an interview. “I just heard a blast and ran
out of there, then started jumping fences.” She added, “I never looked
back.”
Fabian
González Camacho, 33, was standing outside the club, near the entrance,
and ran for safety after the attack began. “I kept thinking: ‘This is
going to be a massacre. They are going to kill us all,’” he said.
Survivors
sought sanctuary in other nightclubs and stores, he said. “A wave of
panic, uncertainty and survival kicked in,” he said. “We were all
vulnerable people, having fun, getting drunk, many also doing drugs, and
then this happened.”
Videos
taken after the shooting and posted online showed clubgoers rushing
through the streets of the resort town and crouching beneath tables
outside nearby clubs and bars, stricken faces bathed in the glow of neon
lights.
“We
are overcome with grief over this senseless act of violence,” the BPM
Festival management said in a statement posted on the company’s Facebook page.
The festival is an annual 10-day event that draws D.J.s, industry
professionals and revelers from around the world to Playa del Carmen, on
the Caribbean coast of the Yucatán.
The
shooting could put a dent in the robust tourism industry of the
Yucatán, which has generally been less violent than many other places in
Mexico, attracting millions of visitors to its white sand beaches and
Mayan ruins.
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