PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico, Jan. 16 (UPI) — At least five people died and a dozen others were injured during a lone gunman’s shooting spree at a club popular with tourists on the last night of the BPM electronics festival in the Mexican resort city, authorities said Monday.
The shooting occurred at 2:30 a.m. as club-goers waited in line to get into the BPM Festival’s closing party at the Blue Parrot, according to a statement by the attorney general of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. The dead — four men and one woman — included two members of the Blue Parrot nightclub’s security team. No information on the gunman was released.
“It is with great sadness to share that police have confirmed reports of a lone shooter outside the Blue Parrot nightclub in Playa Del Carmen earlier today,” according to a statement posted on The BPM Festival’s Facebook page.
“We are overcome with grief over this senseless act of violence and we are cooperating fully with local law enforcement and government officials as they continue their investigation.”
The organizers described the 10th annual event as “an annual ten day and night electronic music festival.”
The Blue Parrot is about 45 miles south of Cancun and across the channel from the island of Cozumel.
Valerie Lee, Mixmag’s U.S. digital editor, said hewas at Blue Parrot when the shooting happened. “We were there for maybe 20 minutes when we heard four to five shots,” she said. “Everyone was kind of processing it for a second then people starting running away from the main entrance towards the back.
“There is a large cement wall so we kind of crouched underneath waiting to see what was happening. People started saying it was just fireworks. But shortly after other people came running through the area and said they had seen someone with a gun.”
Lee said they crouched under a metal table behind the wall for up to five more minutes, then she fled out of the back of the club into the street.
People in other clubs took shelter.
Marcos Vazquez told NBC News he was with his girlfriend at the nearby La Vaquita nightclub when people were running past them. He said he ran into a bathroom and hid with others. They later left unharmed.
Video footage showed people fleeing the scene in panic and one person shouted: “he’s got a gun.”
Popular Scottish disc jockey Jackmaster was scheduled to perform at the BPM Festival. He posted on Twitter: “This is a very very sad situation. Tryna get my head around it still. Thoughts and condolences to all affected.”
The festival is popular with tourists, especially from the United States and Great Britain.
