Bandits go on rampage at Mexican swimming resort, killing seven, including a child

The attack took place at the La Palma resort around 4:30 p.m. in the Cortazar municipality of Guanajuato state, reported the Associated Press.

While initial reports indicated that around 20 people had been attacked and 10 injured, officials later confirmed that three women, three men, and a child had been murdered.

According to Reuters, an eighth victim inside the resort was left seriously injured.

Graphic photos show a chaotic scene, including bloodied bodies and overturned plastic chairs nearby a swimming pool. There was a pink backpack and children's belongings on a table nearby the bodies. The child killed in the attack appears to have been a little boy.

After the massacre, the bandits reportedly ransacked the spa shop and stole its security cameras.

A witness claimed "heavily armed sicarios" were responsible in a video documenting the aftermath.

Following the massacre, Mexican soldiers and local police attempted to track down the bandits, but no arrests have been made so far.

Guanajuato, a low-rent manufacturing hub for carmakers such as Toyota, is Mexico's most violent state.

Two cartels that traffic lethal drugs into the U.S. are competing for superiority in the region: the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and the local Santa Rose de Lima gang, backed by the Sinaloa Cartel.

Mexico's leftist president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has routinely downplayed the violence, reported the New York Times.

"Our adversaries are exaggerating," said Obrador. "It’s like staged, it’s propagandistic. There is no major problem, but they do want to grab that banner of violence."

DW reported that there have been over 350,000 murders in Guanajuato since 2006.

3,500 people were murdered in Guanajuato in 2019. Murders skyrocketed to nearly 5,000 in 2020, reported the Mexico Daily Post.

In May 2022, 15 hooded gunman reportedly opened fire at a Mexican hotel, slaughtering seven women and three men. An eleventh victim later died in hospital. The massacre took place just hours after dismembered bodies were discovered nearby in plastic bags, reported the New York Post.

In October, a dozen people, mainly women, were gunned down in another bar. 10 more were left dead after a shooting in September.

The U.S. State Department maintains its travel warning to American travelers that "Violent crime — such as homicide, kidnapping, carjacking, and robbery — is widespread and common in Mexico."

The State Department asks Americans to reconsider travel to Guanajuato state, where this shooting took place, citing crime, kidnapping, and a high number of cartel-related murders.

While Guanajuato is especially deadly, tourists in more frequented Mexican states are still up against significant risks.

In March, a U.S. tourist was shot in the leg at a Mexican resort just south of Cancún, reported the Associated Press.

TheBlaze previously detailed how Dustan Jackson was mugged, butchered, and left for dead when attempting to leave Cancún.

An American family of nine, including 8-month-old twins, were brutally slaughtered in 2019 while traveling through Chihuahua, Mexico, just 100 miles south from the Arizona border.

Paul Nielsen and Janet Vasquez of Utah were also targeted in 2019. While they were both robbed and murdered in Guerrero, Mexico, their son survived with minor injuries.

Two Canadian tourists were gunned down at an upscale hotel in Mexico in January 2022.

Shooting at Mexico resort leaves 1 child, 6 adults deadyoutu.be