Armed attackers stormed a bar in downtown Queretaro late Saturday, killing 10 people and wounding at least seven others in a rare outbreak of violence for a city typically spared from Mexico’s drug-related bloodshed.
Security footage showed gunmen leaping from a pickup truck and rushing into Los Cantaritos bar as patrons fled or dove for cover. “Emergency services arrived at the scene and confirmed that at least four people armed with long weapons had arrived on board a pickup truck,” city security chief Juan Luis Ferrusca said in a social media video.
Three women were among the dead, according to the state prosecutor’s office. Authorities later found the attackers’ vehicle abandoned and burned, with one suspect in custody.
“The entire security system of Queretaro is mobilized to find the criminals,” state governor Mauricio Kuri posted on X, formerly Twitter. “Those responsible for this brutal act will be punished. We will continue to shield our borders and maintain the security of our state.”
The attack marks an alarming expansion of violence into Queretaro, a colonial city 200 kilometers northwest of Mexico City known more for its historic architecture than crime. The incident comes as newly inaugurated President Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s first woman president, faces mounting pressure to address nationwide violence that has claimed more than 450,000 lives since 2006.
Sheinbaum has rejected declaring “war” on drug cartels, instead pledging to continue her predecessor’s strategy of addressing crime’s root causes through social programs while enhancing intelligence operations.
The bloodshed extends beyond Queretaro, with recent surges in violence in the cartel stronghold of Sinaloa following drug lord Ismael Zambada’s July arrest, and in southern Guerrero state, where authorities Thursday discovered 11 bodies, including two minors, in an abandoned truck. The victims were among 17 traveling merchants reported missing last month.
