At least 15 people are dead and five more in critical condition following an attack on a night club in Salamanca, Guanajuato, last night.

The state attorney general’s office confirmed that a group of civilians armed with high-caliber weapons entered Las Playas night club in the San Roque neighborhood just after midnight and opened fire, killing and injuring clients and employees alike.

State police and the Red Cross arrived on the scene shortly after the attackers fled, cordoning off the area and transferring victims to local hospitals. Two men later succumbed to their injuries in the hospital, while several others remain in critical condition.

Nearly 70 shells were later collected at the scene of the massacre.

The motive for the attack remains unknown but it comes in the midst of an operation to capture the head of the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel, a gang of petroleum thieves based in the Celaya community after which it was named.

Source: Periódico AM (sp)