A multiple homicide on Wednesday afternoon that left five people dead and one person hospitalized brings to 10 the number of people have been killed in Guadalajara’s metropolitan area in only a week.
The three different incidents also left six people injured while another person was kidnapped during one of them.
The latest killing occurred at a makeshift building in San Pedro Tlaquepaque, a municipality that is part of the metropolitan area, where armed civilians entered and opened fire on six people, authorities said.
When police arrived, they found four bodies and two people still alive but with serious injuries, said Tlaquepaque police supervisor Israel García.
The injured man and woman who survived were taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital, but the man died before arriving, García said.
The building where the shooting took place had a history of criminal activity, he said, as the site of an auto-theft-for-parts operation and a place where people would gather to consume drugs and alcohol.
It was just the latest violent incident in the area: on Monday, a restaurant in an exclusive Zapopan neighborhood was the site of an armed confrontation between civilians that left one person dead, at least three injured, and one person kidnapped, authorities said.
The incident was captured on video by numerous bystanders in nearby buildings.
On February 4, the National Guard pursued an armed group in a truck in Guadalajara, ending in a confrontation that left four suspects dead and two Guardsmen injured.
Jalisco Governor Enrique Alfaro said in January that the violence in the area is due to organized crime groups seeking to sow fear.
“This city is so much more than those who want it to sink into fear and unease,” he said, adding that state security officials were working with local police and Zapopan Mayor Pablo Lemus to investigate the incidents.
In January, Alfaro pointed to a report by state officials that said homicides have come down 16% in the metropolitan area over the last two years.
But it doesn’t always feel that way. Tlaquepaque, the location of Wednesday’s killings and a magical town long known for its artisan pottery, has seen frequent violence since homicides shot up between 2017 and 2018 from 167 to 375 according to Jalisco’s Forensic Sciences Institute.
Eleven violent deaths have been reported so far this year.
Sources: El Universal (sp)
