Shooting at Playa Del Carmen Club Leaves Several People Dead, Injured

A gunman reportedly opened fire through an open window at a popular nightclub in the tourist resort of Playa Del Carmen early Monday morning, killing at least five people and wounding nine others.

According to The Independent, locals and tourists were enjoying the last night of the BPM Festival at the Blue Parrot club in Playa Del Carmen—just south of Cancun—when a gunman began shooting into the club at 3:30 a.m. local time.

Police officials told local media outlets that the motive for the shooting was unclear, but authorities were interviewing witnesses and attempting to figure out why this tragedy occurred.

Performing at the time of the shooting was Scottish DJ Jackmaster, who tweeted in the aftermath of the shooting (some language NSFW):

Someone has come into the club in Playa Del Carmen and opened fire. 4-5 dead and many wounded. Stay in ur fuckin hotel if you're here at BPM

— JACKMASTER (@jackmaster) January 16, 2017

This is a very very sad situation. Tryna get my head around it still. Thoughts and condolences to all affected ♥

— JACKMASTER (@jackmaster) January 16, 2017

“We were in the Blue Parrot nightclub and literally two meters from us shots started going off,” witness George de Menezes told The Independent. “No one took it seriously, but I knew straight away that it was a gun and dropped to the floor, then everyone dropped with me.”

"The music stopped and so did the shots, so we got up and one man was down on the floor and looked dead, and another man had been shot but was trying to stay on his feet,” Menezes continued. “Everyone tried to run out to the beach from the club and all of a sudden we heard another shot and everyone dropped again and it kept going on. Finally got out from there and got up to the Main Street and there was another man dead on the street, so everyone started running for their lives.”

In addition to the shootings at the Blue Parrot club, there was also believed to be another shooting at The Jungle a short distance away, but no further details were immediately available.

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