Eighteen people, including a mayor and his father, were gunned down in a small town in the southern Mexico state of Guerrero on Wednesday, media sources reported.
Gunmen stormed the town hall in San Miguel Totolapan at 2 p.m., local police said. The armed group wore ski masks and owned two SUVs, according to a Bloomberg report. The Los Tequileros criminal gang was blamed for the attack, BBC reported, whose alleged members released a video shortly before the attack on social media that they would be returning to the Guerrero region.
The mayor Conrado Mendoza, and his father, who was the former mayor of the town, were amongst the casualties. The former mayor was killed in his home before the attack took place at the town hall, according to the BBC.
Large vehicles were also positioned on the highway in Guerrero to reportedly block security forces from entering.
"I deeply regret the sensitive death of the mayor of San Miguel Totolapan, Conrado Mendoza Almeda," tweeted Guerrero Governor Evelyn Salgado Pineda.
Other casualties
Most of the other casualties were members of the local government, Bloomberg reported citing the Mexican newspaper Reforma. BBC reported that local police officers were also killed in the massacre. At least another two people were wounded in the attack, according to the Washington Post.
Graphic images of bodies were posted on social media.
The Mexican Defense Ministry said that they deployed military units to the area to find those responsible for the attack.