Four dead in shooting after soccer match in central Mexico

Four people died and one was injured in a shooting attack that erupted after a soccer tournament in the community of Las Malvas, Irapuato, in Mexico's Guanajuato state. Local authorities reported the incident occurred Wednesday night.

Consuelo Cruz Galindo, head of Irapuato's Citizen Security Secretariat, stated that the victims were caught in a "crossfire" during a confrontation between two criminal groups. The municipality's video surveillance system captured crucial information suggesting the exchange of gunfire between the groups. The state prosecutor's office is handling the investigation.

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Our video surveillance system fortunately captured important information, and from that it is deduced, up to now, that there was a crossfire between the members of two groups.

While Cruz Galindo could not definitively confirm the crossfire theory due to the ongoing investigation, she indicated state authorities "suspect it was crossfire between different (criminal) groups, and there was an exchange (of shots) and the victims were caught in the middle." The security department has provided its findings to the Guanajuato prosecutor's office.

Local media reports indicated the attack happened as assailants surprised the athletes and opened fire after the game concluded. Security forces, including municipal police, the National Guard, and the Mexican Army, launched an operation to track down the alleged attackers, but no arrests have been reported. This violence follows a pattern in Guanajuato, including a massacre in January where 11 people were killed at a sporting event in Salamanca, attributed to the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel.

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Our suspicion is that it was crossfire between different (criminal) groups, and there was an exchange (of shots) and the victims were caught in the middle.