Influencer one of two dead after gang-fuelled gunfight breaks out in Tulum, Mexico
Two people were killed and three were injured after being caught in a crossfire of a shooting in Tulum, Mexico.
Among those killed was 25-year-old Anjali Ryot, a California-based travel influencer with some 42,000 followers on Instagram and 35-year-old German national Jennifer Henzold.
Two other German men were injured along with a Dutch woman.
Ms Ryot, whose Instagram profile has now been made private, was pronounced dead at the scene. Ms Henzold died in hospital.
The shootout took place outside a restaurant on ‘Mini-Quinta’, a popular tourist destination and is thought to be the result of “an armed clash between criminal groups dedicated to the sale of drugs,” according to the district attorney’s office.
Tulum Mayor Marciano Dzul Caamal condemned the violence.
“I strongly condemn the tragic events that occurred last night in Tulum in which two people lost their lives and three others were injured,” he said Thursday. “I report that I have instructed the Municipal Police to collaborate in the investigation of this unfortunate event…that is already being investigated by the Attorney General’s Office of the State of Quintana Roo.”
He added: “Security is my priority, with the coordination of the three levels of government, we will recover the peace we deserve.”
Mr Dzul Caamal told Milenio television that the victims had no known links to the criminals and appeared to have been caught in the crossfire.
“I think these are issues of organised crime that in some way are trying to fight over some area and unfortunately in this case there is collateral damage that affects other people who have nothing to do with it,” he said.
“A team effort must be made to combat this type of violence in Tulum,” Dzul added.
The German Foreign Office issued a travel advisory, telling Germans visiting the resort destinations in Mexico, “if you are currently in the Tulum or Playa del Carmen area, do not leave your secured hotel facilities.”
On Friday, the civic group Citizens Observatorio of Tulum posted photos of hand-lettered signs that appeared at a local market in Tulum, signed by a drug gang known as Los Pelones, roughly “the Shaved Heads.”
The sign said the shooting “was a warning, so you can see we mean business,” adding “you either get in line or we are going to continue shutting places down like the Mini Quinta,” an apparent warning to pay extortion demands for protection money.
“We are in control here,” the sign added.
The gang, part of the Gulf Cartel, recently extended its operation from Cancun to Tulum and is also fighting the Jalisco Cartel and other groups for the area’s lucrative drug market.
While Tulum is known as a care-free tourist destination, violent incidents have been increasing,
In June, two men were shot to death on the beach in Tulum and a third was wounded.
In nearby Playa del Carmen, police staged a massive raid Thursday on the beach town’s restaurant-lined Quinta Avenida, detaining 26 suspects, most apparently for drug sales, after a city policewoman was shot to death and locked in the trunk of a car last week.
AFP
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