7 Dead in Cold Blooded Massacre In Oaxaca

Yaqui for Borderland Beat from: MND y Depeso

                                 The grisly scene in Santo Domingo Petapa Sunday morning.
                                       Seven dead after Isthmus of Tehuantepec massacre
                 It is the third mass shooting to take place in the Isthmus region in the last two weeks

Seven people were killed in a drive-by shooting on the weekend in the Oaxaca municipality of Santo Domingo Petapa, located in the northern part of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.

Santo Domingo residents told the newspaper El Universal that they first heard volleys of shots around 11:00 pm on Saturday night, July 27. About an hour and a half later, a group of masked men traveling on motorcycles and in pickup trucks started shooting at a group of young people who were having a party in the street.

At least four men and one woman died at the scene, while another man was transported to the hospital in Lagunas with injuries. After the shooting, the aggressors fled in their vehicles.

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When municipal police arrived at the scene they secured a Jeep Cherokee with Veracruz plates and recovered several .45-caliber and 9-caliber shell casings.

According to data from the justice authorities, several young people lived in one of the streets of the community near a party room, when another group of people circulating around the same place began an argument and opened fire ending the lives of 7 people , including a woman, and leaving a wounded.

Delfino Espinoza, mayor of Santo Domingo Petapa confirmed the death of these people, who were young people between 18 and 24 years of age, and said that he regretted that organized crime has taken over the community so he called attention to federal and state authorities .

According to witnesses, the massacre was in cold blood, so there is dismay among the villagers who lamented these events because on August 1, the festive activities of the town's patron saint, Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is set to begin.

Just last May 20 in the community of La Venta, Juchitán municipal agency, also in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a similar massacre occurred, where six people, including four women and two men, were killed by a firearm, while two more people were injured.

The Oaxaca attorney general said there were a total of six victims but witnesses who spoke to El Universal said they had seen two bodies near the Calvario Chapel, bringing the death count to seven.

Through the Regional Vice Ministry of the Isthmus, the respective proceedings were initiated in close collaboration with police authorities, who work to promptly clarify these facts and establish the corresponding criminal responsibilities.

To this end, the prosecution initiated the investigation folder 5592 / FIST / MATIAS / 2019 for the crime of homicide against whom or who are responsible, and reiterated its commitment to investigate thoroughly until clarifying these events. 

Santo Domingo Petapa:

Not all the victims have been identified. One man’s body was removed from the scene by his family before authorities arrived. Most of the victims lived and worked in Santo Domingo Petapa and were aged between 17 and 30.

The attack is the third mass shooting in the Isthmus region in recent weeks. On July 15, three people were killed in a Juchitán bar, while later that day four people were shot in a workshop in Salina Cruz.

So far this year there have been 144 murders in the Isthmus, of which 28 took place in July.