American woman killed by stray bullet in crossfire between two gangs in Mexico
An American tourist has been killed in Mexico after being caught up in a shootout between warring drug gangs.
The woman, identified as 44-year-old Niko Honarbakhsh, from Los Angeles was shot dead on Friday while at an upscale tourist resort in the Tulum area. A second person, a man thought to be a drug dealer from Belize, was also killed in the tragic incident that happened around 6:30pm.
She is not believed to have had any connections with the suspected drug dealers, prosecutors in the state of Quintana Roo were keen to stress. Niko had been at a beach club in the Tulum Hotel Zone and initial local reports that the two victims were romantically linked were also dismissed by prosecutors.
It is thought that the dead man was found with possible cocaine and pills in his possession. The State Attorney General said: "The female person who unfortunately lost her life had no connection with the deceased male, identified with the alias 'Belize'.
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American tourists have been warned by the US State Department about the potential dangers of areas such as Tulum and Cancun (AFP via Getty Images)"Regarding the man 'Belize', he is identified for his probable participation in events possibly constituting drug-related crimes in the form of drug dealing and that he was part of a criminal group that generated violence in the state.
"At the time of the events, the subject had among his belongings transparent bags containing white powder with characteristics typical of cocaine, transparent bags with red and orange pills, as well as a transparent bag containing brown granulated powder."
Niko is believed to have originally been from Los Angeles but was living in Cancun, around 130km north of Tulum in the Yucatán Peninsula. She reportedly died in front of other holidaymakers as they could only look on in horror while the incident unfolded.
One person from Austin, Texas claimed on Tripadvisor to have witnessed the killings. Justin R wrote on February 10: "My partner and I were enjoying the sunset on the beach yesterday at Mia Beach Club when all of a sudden some guy with a gun started chasing another man shooting at him while running in the middle of the beach club crowd.
"Some tourist on vacation with her 2 dogs, mere feet away from us was hit by some of the stray bullets and was killed. The gunman had shot the guy he was chasing once and it slowed him down enough that the gunman walked over and shot him a couple more times in the back."
While another person replied saying they were also there while it happened and that the woman killed looked 'happy' beforehand. Nick C wrote: "I remember the lady with two dogs. She looked so happy during the day and the dogs were chilling out on the sand. My thoughts are with the family." He also claimed that "no workers" alerted them or provided "aid" to the victims.
The US State Department issued a travel alert warning last year for Americans to “exercise increased situational awareness,” in particular after dark while at Mexican resorts such as Tulum, Cancun and Playa del Carmen.
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