(Reuters) – Gunmen killed 19 people yesterday in a night-time attack on a clandestine cockfighting venue in western Mexico, authorities said, and several other people were reported hospitalized.
The shooting took place in Las Tinajas in the state of Michoacan, where the powerful Jalisco New Generation cartel has been fighting smaller local gangs for control of drug routes.
Three of the victims were women, the state prosecutor’s office said in a statement, adding that it was trying to establish who was responsible for the shootings.
All the victims had gunshot wounds, and crime scene investigators were looking into reports that other people had been taken to hospital with injuries, the statement said.
Las Tinajas is in the municipality of Zinapecuaro, about 50 km (30 miles) northeast of the state capital, Morelia.