Gunmen opened fire on a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in Irapuato, Guanajuato, Saturday leaving 10 people dead, the state’s Ministry of Public Safety reported.
Witnesses say at least eight masked men wearing tactical gear and carrying high caliber rifles opened fire on residents at the “Empezando una Nueva Vida de Esperanza” (“Starting a New Life of Hope”). It was the fourth attack on a rehab center in that city in six months and the second against Empezando una Nueva Vida.
In the wee hours of December 4, 2019, a heavily-armed group of men arrived in a convoy at a rehab center and kidnapped 23 residents. The next day 13 were found alive, and a week later 10 bodies thought to be the remaining kidnapping victims were discovered in a mass grave.
On February 8, a band of gunmen kidnapped five people from Empezando una Nueva Vida before burning the building down. Four of those abducted were later found.
On March 26, armed men shot a 38-year-old man at a rehab center, gravely injuring him.
No one has been charged in any of the attacks.
According to a study by the Mexican non-profit Citizen’s Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice, Irapuato was the fourth most violent city in the world in 2019 with a homicide rate of 80.74 per 100,000 inhabitants. Tijuana, Baja California Sur, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, and Uruapan, Michoacán, respectively, topped that same list.
The violence in Irapuato marked a particularly bloody milestone for Mexico as June 7 was the day with the highest number of murders so far this year, according to data published by the federal government on Monday.
On Sunday 117 people were murdered across the country, including 11 in Chihuahua, 11 in the state of México, 10 in Guanajuato, nine in Baja California and nine in Tabasco. The worst day of violence Mexico has ever seen was on December 1, 2019, when 127 people were killed in a single day.
Last year Mexico saw a total of 34,582 murders, the highest rate since 1997 which was the first year for which there is an official record.
Source: Animal Político (sp), El Financiero (sp), AM (sp), Publimetro (sp)
