At least 11 people were killed during a shooting on Sunday night in Salamanca, in the state of Guanajuato in Central Mexico, with at least 12 additional people injured by gunfire.
The attack occurred at a nearby soccer field when armed men in pickup trucks ambushed the gathering and began to open fire indiscriminately on players and spectators, according to witnesses.
Salamanca Mayor Cesar Prieto confirmed the targeted nature of Sunday’s attack, lamenting that last night’s shooting was part of a greater “crime wave” sweeping the Central Mexican state of Guanajuato in recent months. Prieto took to social media to call the attack “regrettable and cowardly”, while also noting that women and children were among the wounded.
Ten victims were pronounced dead at the scene, while one shooting victim later died shortly after arriving at the hospital.
Eye-witness accounts also stated that several victims died near the soccer field by bleeding out, awaiting the arrival of medical personnel to the scene. Local security forces and members of the Mexican National Guard have since cordoned off the area, as the local government says it is coordinating with federal authorities to increase security in the area.
The Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) is mostly responsible for the rise in crime in Guanajuato in recent months.
CJNG is one of the most powerful criminal drug organizations in the country and in Latin America, and was designated a Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity in February 2025 by the U.S. Trump administration.
Guanajuato state topped Mexico’s total homicide rate last year when, in August, local authorities discovered the remains of 32 people inside an abandoned stash house.
In late June, 11 more people were killed in Irapuato, Guanajuato state, when gunmen ambushed a neighborhood party, injuring 20 more people.
