MEXICO COCKFIGHT MASSACRE: 20 dead including California woman as gunmen open fire, sister critical
An American woman, who was living in California with her four children, was killed in a in Mexico while on vacation with her sister, who is also in critical condition. As per reports, Melissa Silva, 36, and her youngest sister, 16-year-old Arleth Silva, were on a holiday and went to watch a cock fight there when a massacre happened just after 10:30 pm on Sunday night, March 27, taking the lives of 19 others.
Reports said a number of people were enjoying the cock fight in the Las Tranjas region of Michoacan, Mexico, when gunmen opened fire, fatally shooting seventeen men and three women, including Melissa. Her teenage sister, a student at Wheaton Warrenville South, was shot numerous times – once in the lungs, and twice in the legs.
The victims' brother, Alex Silva, told ABC7, “They were there for vacation to celebrate the holidays. They were there for a couple of months.”
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Alex also said that their mother was close by when the massacre happened. “They were just ambushed. Everyone was shot. Everyone that was there. Once she showed up, she saw my sisters laying down,” he said, before adding: “It's pretty difficult. Just dealing with the funeral and everything -- having my sister in the hospital.” The Silva family has also started a GoFundMe page to get monetary help from people.
The message on the crowdfunding platform read: “Hi my name is yalitza I am Melissa’s and arleth’s sister I am raising money for Melissa’s funeral and arleth’s hospital expenses she is in critical condition after a getting caught in crossfire after being out in Mexico on vacation having a good time my older sister Melissa leaves behind 4 kids 3 kids under the age of 18 being 17,12,and a 10 year old arleth is my youngest sister of 16 years and is in ICU after being hit 3 times 1 in the lungs and 2 in the leg anything helps us get through this tragic moment in our lives thank and God bless.”
A prosecutors' statement read: “The snack food company truck arrived, and several armed people in camouflage clothing got out. At the same moment, a bus that was outside the building was used as a blockade,” to reportedly stop people from fleeing. It has been said that investigators who checked the scene found 15 vehicles of the victims, one of which had stickers with the logo of a criminal gang, along with over 100 assault rifle bullet shells spread across the ground. A statement from the federal Public Safety Department said, “There are indications that the attack involved a confrontation between criminal groups.”
Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has condemned the killings and held regional criminal gangs responsible for it. He reportedly told a news conference, “It was a massacre of one group by another.”
This comes as crime in Mexico reportedly continues to rise. The Sun asked Robert Almonte, who is an expert on Mexican drug cartels, for his opinion on gang violence and he reportedly said that it was the result of “battles being fought between the two main drug cartels operating in the area, the Gulf Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.”