A 12-year-old boy was shot and killed in the resort town of Cancun, Mexico, after gunmen riding jet skis opened fire at a rival drug dealer on a beach Sunday, Mexican authorities said.
The boy, a local resident, had been lying on a lounge chair on the beach with his family when he was apparently hit by stray bullets, prosecutors said, according to The Associated Press.
The child, who was not named publicly, was rushed to a hospital where he later died. Meanwhile, the gunmen fled the scene on jet skis.
The intended target was believed to be a rival drug dealer who was engaged in a dispute over drug sales, according to prosecutors.
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Mexican prosecutors said the 12-year-old boy was a local resident who was at the beach with his family. (Cesar Rodriguez/Bloomberg via Getty Images, File)
No details about the gunmen were immediately provided.
Prosecutors said the gunmen escaped on the jet skis. (Cesar Rodriguez/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Territorial disputes between drug dealers have cost the lives of several tourists in the resorts along Mexico’s Caribbean coast in recent years.
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The deadly shooting was the latest instance of rival drug dealers in Mexico killing innocent victims over their disputes. (Elizabeth Ruiz/AFP via Getty Images, File)
In 2022, two Canadians were killed in Playa del Carmen, south of Cancun, apparently because of debts between international drug and weapons trafficking gangs.
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In 2021, further south in Tulum, two tourists — one a California travel blogger born in India and a German national — were killed when they apparently were caught in the crossfire of a gunfight between rival drug dealers.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.