Gunmen On Jet Skis Open Fire On Popular Tourist Beach, Killing Boy

A 12-year-old boy was killed on a beach in Cancun, Mexico, after gunmen on jet skis opened fire , allegedly targeting a rival drug dealer. The incident took place on Kukulcán Boulevard in the municipality of Benito Juárez on Sunday (July 28). The boy, a local resident, was not the intended target of the shooting, according to Mexican officials. He was lying on a lounge chair when he was shot. The boy was immediately transferred to a hospital, where he later died. The boy's family, who were present at the time of the shooting, are also residents of the municipality.

Prosecutors said they believe the "attackers arrived by sea, aboard a jet ski, shooting at some people presumably in dispute for drug sales ."

The Attorney General's office is now investigating the incident.

This tragic event is not an isolated incident. In recent years, territorial disputes between drug dealers have cost the lives of several tourists in the resorts along Mexico’s Caribbean coast. In 2022, two Canadians were killed in Playa del Carmen, south of Cancun, apparently because of debts between international drug and weapons trafficking gangs. In 2021, two tourists — one a California travel blogger born in India and a German national — were killed in Tulum when they were caught in the crossfire of a gunfight between rival drug dealers.