A scary scene took place on Thursday, as guests found themselves scrambling for cover and running for safety.
A unexpected shooting between rival gangs broke out on the beach of a resort in Cancun, Mexico. Mexican state authorities claimed armed individuals were seen in the beach area of Hyatt Riviera Cancun and reported to police. They stated two lives were taken and they were presumed to be drug dealers.
Authorities said no tourists were seriously injured or kidnapped.
The Quintana Roo attorney general said he had received reports of a confrontation between rival drug dealers on a beach in Bahía Petempich, Puerto Morelos. He said two of them lost their lives at the scene and that there were no serious injuries.
Police said earlier a group of men with “long guns” had been spotted in the area of the Azul Beach hotel.
Mike Sington, a former executive, said he was at the resort and posted video footage on his Twitter account.
Mike Sington wrote, “Guests are telling me they were playing volleyball on the beach, gunmen approached firing gun. Everyone ran from beach and swimming pools. Staff hustled us into hidden rooms behind the kitchens.”
He then went on to post, “Active shooter at Hyatt Ziva Riviera Cancun resort. All guests confined to lobby now. Hotel staff huddled together in corner. Still no announcement or update from hotel, Hyatt, or police. Several guests have now told they saw gunman come up from the beach, actively shooting.”
A Hyatt spokesperson told Fox News the resort is aware of a “developing situation.”
“We understand the hotel team immediately engaged local authorities, who are on the scene investigating the situation,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “The hotel team is taking steps in an effort to ensure the safety of guests and colleagues, and further questions may be directed to local authorities,” a Hyatt spokesperson said.
Former Mexican Senator Claudia Anaya likened the tourists’ experience at the resort to a “horror movie,” saying that the problem of violence in Mexico is no longer confined to just the streets.
“Today, from a horror movie what tourists have experienced in an exclusive hotel in #Cancun,” she tweeted in Spanish. “Do you think tourists want to keep coming to share our tragedy?”
Andrew Krop, one of the guests husband, spoke up when interviewed, “My husband was at the resort performing for the Vacaya gay vacation group. My husband said he heard gunshots and barricaded himself inside a room for about an hour before resort guests were escorted into the lobby and told they were safe.”
Thursday’s chaotic scenes came after a California woman was killed in the apparent crossfire of a drug gang shootout in Mexico’s Caribbean coast resort of Tulum last month.
