Oct. 17 (UPI) — A gunman shot 12 people dead and injured three others at a bar in central Mexico on Saturday, the Secretary of Citizen Safety in Irapuato said.
Mexican authorities said in a statement police received 9-1-1 calls around 7:51 p.m. reporting that shots had been fired at a bar in a neighborhood named Colonia 12 de Diciembre.
“After the report, security personnel moved to the scene, where paramedics confirmed the death of six men and six women,” the statement reads.
Authorities are still searching for the shooter, or shooters, and the motive for the shooting was not immediately clear.
Mexico’s National Guard and the Attorney General’s Office for the state of Guanajuato are aiding in the search efforts.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who took office in 2018, has struggled to clamp down on gang-related violence in the country.
Earlier this month, gunmen allegedly affiliated with the Tequileros drug gang killed 20 people, including the mayor, in the town of San Miguel Totolapan in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero.
In March, at least 19 people were shot dead and several others were wounded at a cockfighting pit n the town of Las Tinajas in the state of Michoacán — one of the most violent states in the country.
