4 Homeless People Killed Overnight in a Park in Guadalajara

 "MX" for Borderland Beat

One of the four victims was taken alive from the park but died at the hospital upon arrival.

Residents of Guadalajara woke up yesterday morning with news of another massacre conducted in a public area. On early Wednesday morning, four homeless people, three men and a woman, were murdered in a park located in Lomas de Polanco neighborhood.

Authorities confirmed that they were shot by unknown assailants at around 2:30 a.m. Witnesses said that the killers were driving a red Nissan Versa and fired at the homeless victims using handguns and rifles. Only one person survived the attack.

Other killings were reported across the Guadalajara metropolitan area that day. In Tonala, a man was shot to death; in Tlajomulco de Zúñiga, two bodies were found in two dirt roads; and in Zapopan, a lifeless body was dumped near a highway.

Investigators are not sure if this attack was cartel-related. Attacks against homeless people in Mexico is not an unusual occurrence. Aporophobia, fear or hostility against the poor or disadvantaged, is more common in large urban areas like Guadalajara.

Back in 2018, multiple homeless people were killed in Guadalajara, which led authorities to a serial killer who was targeting them. In July 2019, a homeless couple in Mexico City was set on fire by two people who approached them while they were sleeping.

According to a 2013 statistic issued by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Mexico has the largest homeless population in Latin America. Over 14 million people are homeless in Mexico, or 13 percent of the population. More than half of Mexico's total population lives in poverty. 

Sources: El Debate; Aristegui Noticias; Excelsior;