An American woman was killed by a stray bullet during a shootout between rival drug traffickers at a beach club in the Mexican resort city of Tulum, authorities said.
Prosecutors in Quintana Roo state stressed that the American had no connection to a suspected drug trafficker from Belize who was also killed in Friday night’s violence.
She has not been formally identified by authorities, but sources say told ABC News The woman who died was Niko Honalbakhsh, a 44-year-old native of Los Angeles who lived in Cancun, Mexico.
Prosecutors believe she was caught in the crossfire and was hit by a stray bullet.
They denied local reports that she was romantically involved with the slain drug trafficker, stressing that another woman was seen with him in photographs taken at the scene.
Authorities said the suspected dealer, nicknamed “Berrys,” was in possession of cocaine and pills when he was shot.
He was “identified as potentially involved” in “drug-related crimes” and “was part of a criminal group that incited violence in the state.” the state attorney general said.
The suspect in the beach club shooting has been identified and police are searching for him. Their names had not been released as of Monday.
In Tulum, south of Cancun and Playa del Carmen, foreign tourists have been killed in drug-related shootouts in the past.
In 2021, California travel blogger Anjali Ryot and German national Jennifer Hensoldt were killed in a shootout between rival drug dealers while dining at a restaurant.
Last year, the U.S. State Department issued a travel alert warning Americans to “increase situational awareness” in Mexico’s Caribbean beach resorts like Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum, especially after dark.
with post wire
