Gunmen kill 7 people, including children, in central Mexico; cartel messages left at crime scene

Officials said gunmen opened fire and killed seven people, including some minors, in Mexico’s most deadly state, where violence between warring drug cartels has triggered condemnation by the Catholic Church.

The attack in the central state of Guanajuato occurred at around 2:00 am Monday in a plaza in the city of San Felipe where local police found seven bodies, all male, and a damaged van after reports of gunfire, the local government said in a statement.

The officers also found two banners with messages alluding to the Santa Rosa de Lima gang, which operates in the area, the statement said. Messages are often left on victims’ bodies by cartels seeking to threaten their rivals or punish behavior they claim violates their rules.

Guanajuato is a thriving industrial hub and home to several popular tourist destinations, but it is also Mexico’s deadliest state, according to official homicide statistics.

The violent crime is linked to conflict between the Santa Rosa de Lima gang and the Jalisco New Generation cartel, one of the most powerful in the Latin American nation.

Mexican leaders of the Catholic Church condemned the shooting on Monday, calling it “an alarming sign of the weakening of the social fabric, impunity and the absence of peace in vast regions” of the country, which is majority Catholic.

“We cannot remain indifferent in the face of the spiral of violence that is wounding so many communities,” the Episcopal Conference of Mexico, an organization of Mexican bishops, added in a statement.

The shooting was “one more among so many that are repeated with painful frequency”, it said.

In December, the Church in Mexico called on warring cartels to declare a truce.

Guanajuato recorded the most homicides of any state in Mexico last year, with 3,151, 10.5 percent of murders nationwide, according to official figures.

Since 2006, when the military launched an anti-drug operation, Mexico has tallied about 480,000 violent deaths.

Recent bloodshed in Guanajuato

The mass shooting marks the latest deadly attack in Guanajuato, where bystanders and police officers are often casualties amid cartel turf wars.

In February, five women and three men were shot dead in the street in Guanajuato. The month before that, security forces clashed with gunmen in the state, leaving 10 suspected criminals dead and three police officers injured.

In December 2024, eight people were killed and two others wounded after gunmen pulled up to a roadside stand in Guanajuato and opened fire on customers.

Last October, the bodies of 12 slain police officers — all bearing signs of torture and left with messages by cartels — were found in different areas of the region. The state prosecutor’s office also said the perpetrators left messages in which a cartel claimed responsibility.

The bodies were found less than 24 hours after gunmen attacked a residential center for people suffering from addictions in the same municipality, killing four.

In June 2024, a baby and a toddler were among six members of the same family murdered in Guanajuato. In April 2024, a mayoral candidate was shot dead in the street in the state just as she began campaigning.

The U.S. State Department urges Americans to reconsider traveling to Guanajuato. “Of particular concern is the high number of murders in the southern region of the state associated with cartel-related violence,” the department says in a travel advisory.