Gunmen kill 10 in central Mexico bar attack

MEXICO CITY: Gunmen in a truck pulled up to a bar in central Mexico and opened fire, killing 10 people, authorities said, in an area that had been spared the worst of the country’s raging criminal violence.

Security camera footage published by local media showed the perpetrators leaping from the vehicle and bursting into the venue as terrified customers fled or dived to the floor.

The attack late Saturday on Los Cantaritos bar in Queretaro’s downtown district left 10 people dead and at least seven injured, according to the city’s public security department chief Juan Luis Ferrusca. “Emergency services arrived at the scene and confirmed that at least four people armed with long weapons had arrived on board a pickup truck,” Ferrusca said in a video on social media.

One suspect was detained and the vehicle used in the attack was found abandoned and set on fire, he said.

The victims included three women, according to the Queretaro state prosecutor’s office, which said forensic experts were examining the scene of the attack and the vehicle.

Queretaro, the capital of Queretaro state, is considered one of the safer cities in Mexico, which has been plagued by years of drug cartel-related violence. Queretaro, a city known more for its colonial architecture than for its crime, is around 200 kilometers (120 miles) northwest of Mexico City.