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Gunman kills 5 at music festival in Mexico (w/video)

 
Local residents gather to place candles and banners calling for peace and unity outside the Blue Parrot club where several people were killed Monday in early morning gunfire in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. [Associated Press]
Local residents gather to place candles and banners calling for peace and unity outside the Blue Parrot club where several people were killed Monday in early morning gunfire in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. [Associated Press]
Published Jan. 17, 2017

MEXICO CITY — Five people were killed early Monday at a crowded nightclub in the popular Caribbean tourist destination of Playa del Carmen, Mexico, when an armed man who had been denied entry opened fire inside the club, prompting a gunbattle and a stampede, officials said.

Four of the victims, including three members of the security team that had blocked the gunman's entry, were hit by bullets, and the fifth victim was trampled in the resulting pandemonium, the authorities said.

The shooting occurred at the Blue Parrot nightclub, which was hosting the final night of the BPM Festival, an international electronic music event that draws fans from around the world.

The gunman entered the club around 2:30 a.m. but was turned away at the door because he was carrying a weapon, said Miguel Ángel Pech, the state attorney for Quintana Roo state, on the Yucatán Peninsula. The man then opened fire, and as patrons threw themselves to the ground or rushed for the exits, security guards at the club "repelled" the attacker, Pech said, adding that the guards were apparently armed.

The victims included two Canadians, a Colombian, an Italian and a Mexican, and at least 15 other people were injured, including at least three Americans, the authorities said.

The gunman has not been captured or identified, but several people were detained soon after the shooting and were being held for questioning, officials said. Pech, speaking at a news conference Monday morning, did not suggest why the gunman had tried to enter the club with a weapon, but he said the attack was not an act of terrorism.

In an interview with Foro TV later in the day, the state attorney said investigators had not discounted the possibility that the attack had something to do with a fight between criminal groups or with an extortion racket.

Humera Hamad, a resident of El Paso, Texas, who was on vacation in Playa del Carmen, said she was in the club when the shooting started.

"I couldn't see anything," she said in an interview. "I just heard a blast and ran out of there, then started jumping fences." She added, "I never looked back."