Boy, 12, shot dead at beach by gunmen on jet skis who 'opened fire on rival drug dealer'

A 12-year-old boy was gunned down on a beach by two individuals speeding through the water on jet skis.

The incident was connected to an ongoing drugs war and saw the gunmen open fire on the Cancun beach with the aim of targeting a rival drug dealer, police say. The two gunmen on jet skis fled the scene after firing a barrage of bullets . Tragically, a 12-year-old boy laying on a sun lounger on a day out with his family was hit by a stray bullet.

He was rushed to hospital where he later died. A source close to the victim's family told Mexican newspaper El Universal : "It is so sad that things like these happen." The shooting happened on Playa Caracol near the Riu Cancun hotel - although the boy was not believed to have been staying at the hotel.

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Prosecutors said the "attackers arrived by sea, aboard a jet ski shooting at some people presumably in dispute for drug sales.". The latest incident is just one in a long line of tragedies in which people have become caught up in gunfire connect to gang wars.

In June of this year, o ver 4,000 residents fled a town in southern Mexico after armed gangs started shooting and burning homes. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador acknowledged Monday that authorities have had to set up camps for displaced people after some 4,200 residents fled a town in the southern state of Chiapas.

Residents of the town of Tila fled after armed gangs shot up the town and burned many homes state prosecutors said. It was probably the biggest mass displacement in Chiapas since 1997. Some residents recounted spending days trapped in their homes before army troops and state police showed up over the weekend to allow them to leave.

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Photos distributed by state authorities showed people fleeing with just purses on their shoulders, or sometimes small backpacks or shoulder bags. López Obrador depicted the assault as “a conflict between the very same people” of the town of Tila, an apparent reference to a longstanding land dispute between farmers.

Víctor Gómez, a resident of Tila, said many people spent three days in their homes, too afraid to go outside, before federal forces arrived. “A lot of people left with what they had on their backs, without money, without clothing, they left behind all their possessions, a lot of their pets remained in Tila because they could not be evacuated,” he said.