Authorities in central Mexico are investigating the brutal murder of ten victims, including a 20-month-old child, at the hands of cartel gunmen. Authorities in Mexico claim the mass killing was in response to a family having forced one of the gunmen into a drug rehab center, from which he escaped.
The mass killing took place on Sunday, early morning, at a ranch near the city of Tehuitzingo, Puebla. According to initial reports from Mexico’s Excelsior, the attack took place when a group of gunmen pulled up to the ranch and began to tie up and kill several members of one family and three workers. The gunmen left before authorities arrived. One of the victims was identified as a young infant. The dead also included several minors.
In the aftermath, the Puebla Attorney General’s Office issued a series of statements revealing that the killing was targeted in nature and not directly tied to violence between criminal organizations. According to information published in Proceso, the killing is attributed to a man named Jose Alfredo “N” who had been sent to a drug rehabilitation center by his family. He later escaped from the facility.
The mass killing is believed to be a revenge, of sorts, for having sent him to the center, leading the man to get help and hunt down his family.
The mass killing comes at a time when Central Mexico has seen a dramatic rise in violence. On Monday morning, a group of gunmen shot another man and injured a woman in another nearby town. Authorities are refusing to name the drug cartels behind the killings, authorities have been unable to stop the rising violence in the region.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.