A gun battle between conflicting gangs killed 11 people during a Virgin of Guadalupe celebration in a western Mexican town, authorities said Saturday. Armed men arrived in three cars and opened fire on another group of gunmen in the main plaza of Tecalitlan just as a crowd was gathering Friday night, the Jalisco state attorney general’s office said in a statement. One of the gunmen hurled a grenade. Eight men were killed at the scene and two others died at a hospital, the office said.Another man, the brother of one of those killed in the plaza, was found shot to death next to a car on the highway just outside the small town, the statement said.
Inside the car, which had been reported stolen, authorities found two banners. One read, “We haven’t come to kill innocent people. We’ve come for El Zopilote.” The other said, “We do not charge quotas.” Police are investigating whether the death of two other men, whose burned remains were found inside a car in the nearby town of Zapotiltic, were tied to the Tecalitlan shoot out.
In Tecalitlan, police recovered bullet clips for AK-47, AR-15 rifles and a grenade launcher.The violence came one day after federal troops gunned down an alleged drug cartel boss in the state of Michoacan.
The death of Nazario Moreno Gonzalez and two other Familia Michoacana members came during a joint operation involving members of Mexico’s army, air force,navy and federal police . There was at least five federal police officers and three civilians died in that operation, officials said Friday afternoon.
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