One of the biggest electronic music festivals in the world, the BPM festival is supposedly entering its 10th year partying with tourists and locals at Playa del Carmen clubs in Mexico. But last night, the event took a scary turn when an unidentified gunman opened fire at the Blue Parrot nightclub, killing five people in the process and injuring 15 others.
According to Quintana Roo State Attorney General Miguel Angel Pech, an Italian, Canadian, and Mexican were among the dead, with the nationalities of the remaining two victims still unidentified. 7 people were also rushed to the hospital because of the incident, with 1 person in really grave condition. Other injured victims were treated at the scene for cuts and bruises.
After the gunman started shooting, the crowd rose into panic which caused a stampede in the nightclub. One of the people who died in the incident was apparently caused by the stampede.
The party apparently started at noon, so by the time the incident happened everyone was either drunk or high on drugs. It caused a disorganized panic around the club during the shooting which resulted in a lot of confusion. A stampede occurred when partygoers tried to exit the club.
Hector Escardo Steck was among the people at the club when the incident happened. In his interview, he said: "It was awful, the club was completely full and at around 2am we heard ten successive gunshots and people immediately hit the floor. Just after that the music stopped and everyone started running in a panic."
"There is a tall fence between the club and the beach and everyone started trying to climb over that. A lot of people got hurt in the attempt top club over, because people were panicking and trying to get away. It was terrifying"
"I was at the back of the club, so I didn't see anyone get shot, but 20 minutes later in the streets I saw a lot of dead bodies being guarded by police officers. People were running everywhere, jumping, punching, running."
4 people are now in custody in relation of the incident. The perpetrator is still at large, but police are confident they'll find the suspect soon.
The festival organizers were deeply saddened by the event. In their statement, they said that because of the horror incident in Blue Parrot nightclub, all BPM parties will be shut down to pave way for the police investigation.
"It is with great sadness to share that police have confirmed reports of a lone shooter outside the Blue Parrot nightclub in Playa Del Carmen earlier today, which resulted in four fatalities and 15 injured," they said. "After alleged reports of shots fired this morning at Blue Parrot, all BPM parties are shut down while police investigations are underway."
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
