Twenty people were killed and four were injured in a massacre at a clandestine cockfight in Michoacán on Sunday night.
The bodies of 16 men and three women were found with bullet wounds in Las Tinajas, Zinapécuaro municipality, and an injured person died on the way to hospital.
Las Tinajas is 70 kilometers east of the state capital Morelia near the state border with Guanajuato.
The state Attorney General’s Office was informed of the attack at around 10:30 p.m. and personnel from the Investigation and Crime Scene Unit (USPEC) attended the scene where more than 100 bullet casings were found and 15 vehicles were seized.
Gunfire is audible on videos on social media recorded near the site of the attack.
The Michoacán Security Ministry wrote on social media to say that USPEC agents, soldiers and National Guardsmen were carrying out patrols in Zinapécuaro to search for the attackers.
It is the second large massacre in the state in a month. On February 27, 17 people were shot dead outside of a wake they were attending in the town of San José de Gracia.
The victims of that attack are presumed to be members of Cárteles Unidos, which is engaged in a turf war with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
The turf war was previously concentrated in Aguililla, the birthplace of the CJNG’s leader, and neighboring municipalities until February when the army largely retook control. However, the mayor of Aguililla, Arturo Valencia Caballero, was assassinated in the town on March 10.
More than half of total homicides recorded in the first two months of the year occurred in six states, a list which included Michoacán and Guanajuato.
The government recently announced that last month was the least violent February of the past five years, with total homicides down 14% from February 2021.
