Shooting in Centro.

Hola . I know that most don't like to hear this , but it must be told
Was having a quiet night at the bar when gun shots erupted from the bar across the road. It was about 10:30. A lady came in with a gunshot wound to her thigh. We were ushered inside and the doors were closed. Several more shots outside. My wife attended to the ladies wound. Apparently 3 other people were shot. Counted about 7 shots. Don't know if anyone was killed.
PS. We were near the Fishing Hole bar in Centro

Makes me wonder if there is a new gang trying to take over power. Those damn narco bars were sure to cause a problem sooner or later.

This was not drug related...Happened across the street from the Fishing Hole more or less. This was a targeted hit and 2 are dead and one in hospital. I hate to hear this happened with tourists being affected. I have seen my share of shootings and it is not something I want to see while on vacations.

This is the fourth shooting at bar ego in the past three years. It is the third within a block of there in the last three months and in the last six months how many more in a six block radius. All in the day or before midnight. And nope no one wants to hear about it.

Hola . I know that most don't like to hear this , but it must be told
Was having a quiet night at the bar when gun shots erupted from the bar across the road. It was about 10:30. A lady came in with a gunshot wound to her thigh. We were ushered inside and the doors were closed. Several more shots outside. My wife attended to the ladies wound. Apparently 3 other people were shot. Counted about 7 shots. Don't know if anyone was killed.
PS. We were near the Fishing Hole bar in Centro

There are no words to express how much my wife and I regret that you and others had to witness this vile and cowardly attack in our downtown streets. Story of a violent tragedy foretold.

The response of the police wasn't very swift, and the response of the ambulances was frankly pathetic. Never heard a siren. Taxis kept driving practically on top of the body in the street that I could see instead of turning around and not disturbing the crime scene. It's a sick tragi-comedy that seems to have no end as long as city authorities continue ignoring the reclamos of the citizens, residents and business owners in el Centro who have been complaining about this particular bar as well as the entire bar problem for well over 10 years now. We are anxious to see what the reaction of the government will be. Hopefully not just the temporary closing of this bar but a more comprehensive and far-reaching set of measures in line with the desires of downtown residents and business owners.

My respect to your wife for getting involved (most people simply ran away) and for helping one of the victims who was not mentioned in any of the news accounts I've seen so far. I urge your wife not to mention the young lady's name to anyone. Her life could still be at risk.

I checked the 2 newspapers in Oxxo this morning, and no mention of this event! Hush Up??

My question for this discussion is where are all the federales, marines, municipal policia and tourist police that we see cruising in daylight at NIGHT? Are they not allowed out?

Feb 05 2019

Excerpt from post by allen

......."Those damn narco bars were sure to cause a problem sooner or later."

@ allen

¡Definitely!

En el "calor de las copas" anything's possible, e.g. violent activities.
Among other things related to those bars and some of the clientele who frequent them, these types of events are more than a latent problem, quite to the contrary.

As a side note about the bars en el Centro, particularly in the area of el Zócalo:

One opened up around a month ago, called "Mala Copa", if I recall correctly.
It is just next door or so to the pharmacy to the left of OXXO in front of el Zócalo.
I could hear the "pum-pum-pum" pounding bass noise emitted from that pigpen almost as far down as the parking lot of el Muelle. It's even noisier than the bar "La Ingobernable"

As usual, con la complacencia de las autoridades, who obviously aren't actively enforcing environmental Norms related to noise contamination.

--
jaui

I agree NSan , besides , if for no other reason, the marinaras or policia estal riding around with Kevlar body armor on would be cooler at night. Sadly I think its hopeless that Zihua will ever have a local, effective police force. Doubtless some violent crime occurs in Zihua in the daytime but I bet my next 500 pesos that the vast majority occurs after sundown

Probably already discussed, but are there camera systems in El Centro to monitor public areas? I do understand the lack of public police trust but maybe a "watch" group could monitor? WiFi cameras and even hardwired systems are really affordable now. Do bars and smaller restaurants in Z use cameras privately? I know prosecution is another issue but it seems like this would be a start to identify the bad element or deter some crime with you are on camera signs?

I work out of El Paso and live in Juarez a few months and in Mazatlan the remainder. Both Juarez and Mazatlan are loaded to the brim with surveillance cameras. As i only vacation in Zihua a few weeks a year I'm not up to speed on the camera situation but you can bet there are plenty. It's hard to find anywhere in this world today where there AREN'T cameras.

My question for this discussion is where are all the federales, marines, municipal policia and tourist police that we see cruising in daylight at NIGHT? Are they not allowed out?

The police and La Marina were all over downtown last night keeping an eye on tourists and the various events. Perhaps you fail to appreciate just how easy it is for organized criminals to also watch the police in order to time an attack. Besides tech, they have watchers called halcones. As long as popular recreational substances remain illegal, the organized criminals who control their routes and markets can outspend the authorities roughly ten to one.

The lessons of Prohibition aren't that difficult to comprehend. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

“The response of the police wasn’t very swift” “the police and La Marina were all over downtown last night keeping an eye on tourists and the various events”. Which is it? Agree a vile and cowardly attack.

“The response of the police wasn’t very swift” “the police and La Marina were all over downtown last night keeping an eye on tourists and the various events”. Which is it? Agree a vile and cowardly attack.

Both are true. The police and military were seen making their rounds and keeping an eye on public events. But they still took over 5 minutes to arrive to the scene of the crime, an eternity when there should always be police present downtown while bars are open and special public events occur. Our downtown area simply isn’t that large.

A broad daylight attack should be quite easy to see on a decent camera system. Even if its from a private stores camera, I would still print photos or anonymously deliver to newspapers the images or video. Public shaming and lack of anonymity for criminals go along way. There must be a way of banding together and outsmarting the criminals since Rob's idea of prohibition seems to be years if not decades away.

A broad daylight attack should be quite easy to see on a decent camera system. Even if its from a private stores camera, I would still print photos or anonymously deliver to newspapers the images or video. Public shaming and lack of anonymity for criminals go along way. There must be a way of banding together and outsmarting the criminals since Rob's idea of prohibition seems to be years if not decades away.

Your idea shows a dangerous naivete on how things work in Mexico.

A broad daylight attack should be quite easy to see on a decent camera system. Even if its from a private stores camera, I would still print photos or anonymously deliver to newspapers the images or video. Public shaming and lack of anonymity for criminals go along way. There must be a way of banding together and outsmarting the criminals since Rob's idea of prohibition seems to be years if not decades away.

Your idea shows a dangerous naivete on how things work in Mexico.

(Oh c'mon anti-Me Gusta guys. OlsenMN's response is PRECISELY why I have this emoticon)

Or as my Grammy used to say, ahYAYus!
(She was the only person I knew who could get three syllables out of the word "yes" with her Luavull Southern Belle accent)

At least Mexico is on the verge of legalizing marijuana, and the State of Guerrero is also pushing hard for the legalization of opium to remove that business from the hands of violent organized criminals. If we keep removing their largest sources of income we level the playing field so that our military can be recalled to their barracks and our soon-to-be more professionalized police forces can deal with criminals who don't have access to more resources than they do.

A targeted hit that was not drug related. How does that even make sense?

Hola. Last I heard it was a lovers quarrel. That came from the lady with the bullet hole in her leg.

Maybe so but if so, why was she afraid to go to the hospital and why were the others shot? Makes no sense.

I certainly do not know for sure what was behind it and was not even in town but all indications point to narco activity.

You do realize that there is a lot of violence that is not drug related in Zihua and elsewhere. The shooting on La Boquita the other day was not drug related either. Having said that, this particular bar has been a bad one for violence and a well known hang out for narcos and gangs. Nothing good about it.

No, I actually had no idea that there was violence, other than the occasional bar fight, that was not drug related. Can you provide an example of a cause other than narco activity?

Hola. There are a lot of domestic disputes here that turn violent. The one on Monday may have been gang people, but was basically a domestic dispute that turned violent, from what I heard.
PS It was the lady that got shot in the leg that told us that.

Perhaps, certainly there is plenty of domestic violence but it seldom results in multiple people being killed. It is also not clear why she would refuse an ambulance ride. I do not think that absolutely every act of violence is a result of narco activity but it is certainly to blame for the majority of it.

Hola. This thread has gone on long enough. I have told all that I know. Enough. Let's wait for the next shootup to start another thread.

I will bite...a lot of the issues have been due to the protection racket. Then there is the kidnapping issues. The carjackings gone bad. Yes, the cartel boys generate a lot of the violence and likely most but there is plenty that is unrelated to them unfortunately. And no, from what I have read and heard from locals, it was not a lover's quarrel.

Hola. Not sure of your sources but my wife who stopped the ladies bleeding was told that it was a relationship issue.

Those examples all fall into the category of narco activity in my book.

Hola You could be right Allen because who else carries guns to the bar ? It was still a domestic dispute .

........ because who else carries guns to the bar ?

A very cogent question, Victorio. But it depends where you are. In 45 US states, local lunatics are allowed open carry of firearms. Of course, according to Wayne LaPierre, the best defense against a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. You know, like Dodge City circa 1850? We can only hope they can all shoot straight.