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Woman suspected of kidnapping and killing girl is beaten to death by mob in Mexican tourist city

Updated on: March 29, 2024 / 7:47 AM EDT / CBS/AP

A mob in the Mexican tourist city of Taxco brutally beat a woman to death Thursday because she was suspected of kidnapping and killing a young girl, rampaging just hours before the city's famous Holy Week procession.

The mob formed after an 8-year-old girl disappeared Wednesday. Her body was found on a road on the outskirts of the city early Thursday. Security camera footage appeared to show a woman and a man loading a bundle, which may have been the girl's body, into a taxi.

The mob surrounded the woman's house Thursday, threatening to drag her out. Police took the woman into the bed of a police pickup truck, but then stood by - apparently intimidated by the crowd - as members of the mob dragged her out of the truck and down onto the street where they stomped, kicked and pummeled her until she lay, partly stripped and motionless.

Mexico Violence

Police then picked her up and took her away, leaving the pavement stained with blood. The Guerrero state prosecutors' office later confirmed the woman died of her injuries.

"This is the result of the bad government we have," said a member of the mob, who gave her name as Andrea but refused to give her last name. "This isn't the first time this kind of thing has happened," she said, referring to the murder of the girl, "but this is the first time the people have done something."

"We are fed up," she said. "This time it was an 8-year-old girl."

Mexico Violence

The mayor of Taxco, Mario Figueroa, said he shared residents' outrage over the killing. Figueroa said a total of three people beaten by the mob - the woman and two men - had been taken away by police. Video from the scene suggested they had also been beaten, though The Associated Press witnessed only the beating of the woman.

The state prosecutors' office said the two men were hospitalized. There was no immediate information on their condition.

In a statement issued soon after the event, Figueroa complained he did not get any help from the state government for his small, outnumbered municipal police force.

"Unfortunately, up to now we have not received any help or answers," Figueroa said.

The Good Friday eve religious procession, which dates back centuries in the old silver-mining town, went off as planned Thursday night.

People crowded Taxco's colonial streets to watch hooded men walking while whipping themselves or carrying heavy bundles of thorns across their bare shoulders in penitence to emulate the suffering of Jesus Christ carrying the cross.

But the earlier flash of violence cast a pall over the already solemn procession, which draws thousands to the small town.

Many participants wore small white ribbons of mourning.

"I never thought that in a touristic place like Taxco we would experience a lynching," said Felipa Lagunas, a local elementary school teacher. "I saw it as something distant, in places far from civilization ... I never imagined that my community would experience this on such a special day."

Mob attacks in rural Mexico are common. In 2018, two men were torched by an angry crowd in the central state of Puebla, and the next day a man and woman were dragged from their vehicle, beaten and set afire in the neighboring state of Hidalgo.

But Taxco and other cities in Guerrero state have been particularly prone to violence.

In late January, Taxco endured a days-long strike by private taxi and van drivers who suffered threats from one of several drug gangs fighting for control of the area. The situation was so bad that police had to give people rides in the back of their patrol vehicles.

Around the same time, the bullet-ridden bodies of two detectives were found on the outskirts of Taxco. Local media said their bodies showed signs of torture.

In February, Figueroa's own bulletproof car was shot up by gunmen on motorcycles.

In Taxco and throughout Guerrero state, drug cartels and gangs routinely prey on the local population, demanding protection payments from store owners, taxi and bus drivers. They kill those who refuse to pay.

Cartel violence in Guerrero has continued unabated this year.

In February, investigators in Guerrero said they confirmed the contents of a grisly drug cartel video showing gunmen shooting, kicking and burning the corpses of their enemies. Prosecutors said they had reached the remote scene of the crime in the mountain township of Totolapan and  found five charred bodies .  

In January, an alleged  cartel attack in Guerrero  killed at least six people and injured 13 others.

The U.S. State Department urges Americans not to travel to Guerrero, citing widespread crime and violence. "Armed groups operate independently of the government in many areas of Guerrero," the U.S. advisory says . "Members of these groups frequently maintain roadblocks and may use violence towards travelers."

Residents said they have had enough, even though the violence may further affect tourism.

"We know the town lives off of Holy Week (tourism) and that this is going to mess it up. There will be a lot of people who won't want to come anymore," said Andrea, the woman who was in the mob. "We make our living off tourism, but we cannot continue to allow them to do these things to us."

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Mob in Mexico beats kidnapping suspect to death hours before Holy Week procession

A woman suspected of  kidnapping and killing of a young girl is dragged from a police vehicle by a mob in Taxco, Mexico.

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A mob in Taxco beat a woman to death because she was suspected of kidnapping and killing a young girl, rampaging just hours before the Mexican tourist city’s famous Holy Week procession.

The 8-year-old girl disappeared Wednesday. Her body was found on a road on the outskirts of Taxco early Thursday. Security camera video appeared to show a woman and a man loading a bundle, which may have been the girl’s body, into a taxi.

A mob surrounded the woman’s house Thursday, threatening to drag her out. Officers took the woman into the bed of a police pickup truck but then stood by — apparently intimidated by the crowd — as members of the mob dragged her out of the truck and onto the street, where they stomped, kicked and pummeled her until she lay partly stripped and motionless.

Police then took her away, leaving the pavement stained with blood.

The Guerrero state prosecutors’ office later confirmed that the woman died from her injuries.

“This is the result of the bad government we have,” said a member of the mob, Andrea, who refused to give her last name. “This isn’t the first time this kind of thing has happened,” she said, referring to the murder of the girl, “but this is the first time the people have done something.”

“We are fed up,” she added. “This time it was an 8-year-old girl.”

The mayor of Taxco, Mario Figueroa, said he shared residents’ outrage over the killing.

Figueroa said three people beaten by the mob — the woman, as well as two men — had been taken away by police. Video from the scene suggests that the men had also been beaten, although the Associated Press witnessed only the beating of the woman.

CIUDAD JUAREZ , MEXICO - MARCH 21: Hundreds of foreigners who camped at the border, broke the fence with their hands, sticks and different tools they had, placed blankets over the spikes and entered the United States, through the area known as Gate 36 in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico on March 21, 2024. American authorities kneeled migrants waiting to be processed. On the Mexican side, an operation is implemented by the Municipal Police and the National Migration Institute, who they remained waiting for what might happen. (Photo by Christian Torres/Anadolu via Getty Images)

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The state prosecutors’ office said the two men had been hospitalized. There was no immediate information on their condition.

In a statement issued soon after the killing, Figueroa complained that he did not receive help from the state government for his small, outnumbered municipal police force.

“Unfortunately, up to now, we have not received any help or answers,” Figueroa said.

Taxco’s Good Friday eve religious procession, which dates back centuries in the silver-mining town, went on as planned Thursday night.

People crowded Taxco’s colonial streets to watch hooded men whipping themselves or carrying heavy bundles of thorns across their bare shoulders to emulate the suffering of Jesus Christ carrying the cross.

But the earlier flash of violence cast a pall over the already solemn procession, which draws thousands to the small town.

Many participants wore white ribbons of mourning.

“I never thought that in a touristic place like Taxco we would experience a lynching,” said Felipa Lagunas, a local elementary school teacher. “I saw it as something distant, in places far from civilization. ... I never imagined that my community would experience this on such a special day.”

Mob attacks in rural Mexico are not uncommon.

In 2018, two men were torched by an angry crowd in the central state of Puebla, and the next day a man and woman were dragged from their vehicle, beaten and set afire in the neighboring state of Hidalgo.

But Taxco and other cities in Guerrero state have been particularly prone to violence.

In late January, Taxco endured a days-long strike by private taxi and van drivers who suffered threats from one of several drug gangs that are fighting for control of the area. The situation was so bad that police had to give people rides in the back of their patrol vehicles.

Around the same time, the bullet-ridden bodies of two detectives were found on the outskirts of Taxco. Reports in local media said the bodies showed signs of torture.

In February, Figueroa’s own bulletproof car was shot up by gunmen on motorcycles.

In Taxco and throughout Guerrero state, drug cartels and gangs routinely prey on the population, demanding protection payments from store owners and taxi and bus drivers. They kill those who refuse to pay.

Residents have said they have had enough. They took matters into their own hands despite knowing that the violence may further hurt tourism to the city.

“We know the town lives off of Holy Week [tourism] and that this is going to mess it up. There will be a lot of people who won’t want to come anymore,” said Andrea, the woman who was in the mob. “We make our living off tourism, but we cannot continue to allow them to do these things to us.”

Pesce writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Mark Stevenson in Mexico City contributed to this report.

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Mob in Mexican tourist city beats woman suspected of killing 8-year-old to death

The mob surrounded the woman's house before police put her in a police pickup truck, where the crowd was able to pull her out and beat her death., by fernanda pesce | associated press • published march 29, 2024.

A mob in the Mexican tourist city of Taxco brutally beat a woman to death Thursday because she was suspected of kidnapping and killing a young girl, rampaging just hours before the city’s famous Holy Week procession.

The mob formed after an 8-year-old girl disappeared Wednesday. Her body was found on a road on the outskirts of the city early Thursday. Security camera footage appeared to show a woman and a man loading a bundle, which may have been the girl's body, into a taxi.

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The mob surrounded the woman's house Thursday, threatening to drag her out. Police took the woman into the bed of a police pickup truck, but then stood by — apparently intimidated by the crowd — as members of the mob dragged her out of the truck and down onto the street where they stomped, kicked and pummeled her until she lay, partly stripped and motionless.

Police then picked her up and took her away, leaving the pavement stained with blood. The Guerrero state prosecutors’ office later confirmed the woman died of her injuries.

“This is the result of the bad government we have,” said a member of the mob, who gave her name as Andrea but refused to give her last name. “This isn't the first time this kind of thing has happened,” she said, referring to the murder of the girl, “but this is the first time the people have done something.”

“We are fed up,” she said. “This time it was an 8-year-old girl.”

The mayor of Taxco, Mario Figueroa, said he shared residents' outrage over the killing. Figueroa said a total of three people beaten by the mob — the woman and two men — had been taken away by police. Video from the scene suggested they had also been beaten, though The Associated Press witnessed only the beating of the woman.

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The state prosecutors' office said the two men were hospitalized. There was no immediate information on their condition.

In a statement issued soon after the event, Figueroa complained he did not get any help from the state government for his small, outnumbered municipal police force.

“Unfortunately, up to now we have not received any help or answers,” Figueroa said.

The Good Friday eve religious procession, which dates back centuries in the old silver-mining town, went off as planned Thursday night.

People crowded Taxco's colonial streets to watch hooded men walking while whipping themselves or carrying heavy bundles of thorns across their bare shoulders in penitence to emulate the suffering of Jesus Christ carrying the cross.

But the earlier flash of violence cast a pall over the already solemn procession, which draws thousands to the small town.

Many participants wore small white ribbons of mourning.

“I never thought that in a touristic place like Taxco we would experience a lynching,” said Felipa Lagunas, a local elementary school teacher. “I saw it as something distant, in places far from civilization ... I never imagined that my community would experience this on such a special day.”

Mob attacks in rural Mexico are common. In 2018, two men were torched by an angry crowd in the central state of Puebla, and the next day a man and woman were dragged from their vehicle, beaten and set afire in the neighboring state of Hidalgo.

But Taxco and other cities in Guerrero state have been particularly prone to violence.

In late January, Taxco endured a days-long strike by private taxi and van drivers who suffered threats from one of several drug gangs fighting for control of the area. The situation was so bad that police had to give people rides in the back of their patrol vehicles.

Around the same time, the bullet-ridden bodies of two detectives were found on the outskirts of Taxco. Local media said their bodies showed signs of torture.

In February, Figueroa's own bulletproof car was shot up by gunmen on motorcycles.

In Taxco and throughout Guerrero state, drug cartels and gangs routinely prey on the local population, demanding protection payments from store owners, taxi and bus drivers. They kill those who refuse to pay.

Residents said they have had enough, even though the violence may further affect tourism.

“We know the town lives off of Holy Week (tourism) and that this is going to mess it up. There will be a lot of people who won't want to come anymore,” said Andrea, the woman who was in the mob. “We make our living off tourism, but we cannot continue to allow them to do these things to us.”

Associated Press writer Mark Stevenson in Mexico City contributed to this report.

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tourist beaten to death in mexico

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Arrest warrant issued in mexico for death of tourist shanquella robinson.

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Mexican prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for a suspect in the death of an American woman who was vacationing at a luxury resort in San José del Cabo, according to a report.

The warrant, which does not name the alleged suspect, comes as the death of Charlotte native Shanquella Robinson was being probed as a violent crime. Daniel de la Rosa Anaya, a local prosecutor for the state of Baja California Sur, noted the suspect was a friend of the victim, according to ABC News.

An arrest warrant was issued in the death of Shanquella Robinson by a Mexican prosecutor.

“This case is fully clarified, we even have a court order, there is an arrest warrant issued for the crime of femicide to the detriment of the victim and against an alleged perpetrator, a friend of her who is the direct aggressor,” he reportedly said.

“Actually it wasn’t a quarrel, but instead a direct aggression. We are carrying out all the pertinent procedures such as the Interpol alert and the request for extradition to the United States of America. It’s about two Americans, the victim and the culprit….”

Footage shows Shanquella Robinson being beaten by her attacker in her hotel room in Mexico.

Robinson’s death was originally thought to be alcohol poisoning, but a death certificate revealed the cause of death was a “severe spinal cord injury and atlas luxation,” an instability of the first two neck vertebrae leading to the investigation, WSOC-TV reported.

Footage previously emerged that showed Robinson being beaten inside a hotel room with Robinson’s mother, Sallamondra, telling the news station she recognized people in the video as friends who went on the trip with her daughter.

Reports initially indicated the 25-year-old died 15 minutes after her spinal injury, but Robinson might have actually been alive and received medical care for several hours before she was pronounced dead, according to a police report obtained by the Charlotte Observer.

Robinson's death was initially ruled as a bad food poisoning, but a death certificate revealed the cause of death was a spinal cord injury.

The report states medical assistance was requested around 2:13 p.m. on Oct. 29 by one of the friends on the trip with Robinson, according to the newspaper. Dr. Karolina Beatriz Ornelas Gutiérrez said Robinson “drunk a lot of alcohol,” and was dehydrated and unable to talk, but had stable vital signs.

When Gutierrez wanted to take Robinson to a hospital, the victim’s friends insisted she be cared for at the villa.

Robinson later suffered a brief seizure and her condition worsened before her heart stopped beating and police arrived, the Observer reported.

The FBI began investigating the case earlier this month as Mexican authorities probed it as a femicide, which is a crime against women.   

Sallamondra Robinson told ABC News she wants answers, particularly from the several friends that went on the trip with her daughter.

“I would like to see each one of them sent back to Mexico because their plan was to come back here thinking that they wasn’t going to be prosecuted,” she said. “She was a caring person … and I want them to always remember that. We’re going to keep her legacy alive.”

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An arrest warrant was issued in the death of Shanquella Robinson by a Mexican prosecutor.

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Mob in Mexico Brutally Beats Suspected Kidnapper to Death Hours Before Holy Week Procession

A mob in the Mexican tourist city of Taxco has brutally beat a woman to death because she was suspected of kidnapping and killing a young girl, rampaging just hours before the city's Holy Week procession

Fernando Llano

Fernando Llano

A woman suspected in the kidnapping and killing of an 8-year-old girl, is dragged out of a police vehicle by a mob in Taxco, Mexico, Thursday, March 28, 2024. Police then picked her up off the ground and took her away. The Guerrero state prosecutors’ office later confirmed the woman died of her injuries. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

TAXCO, Mexico (AP) — A mob in the Mexican tourist city of Taxco brutally beat a woman to death Thursday because she was suspected of kidnapping and killing a young girl, rampaging just hours before the city’s famous Holy Week procession.

The mob formed after an 8-year-old girl disappeared Wednesday. Her body was found on a road on the outskirts of the city early Thursday. Security camera footage appeared to show a woman and a man loading a bundle, which may have been the girl's body, into a taxi.

The mob surrounded the woman's house Thursday, threatening to drag her out. Police took the woman into the bed of a police pickup truck, but then stood by — apparently intimidated by the crowd — as members of the mob dragged her out of the truck and down onto the street where they stomped, kicked and pummeled her until she lay, partly stripped and motionless.

Police then picked her up and took her away, leaving the pavement stained with blood. The Guerrero state prosecutors’ office later confirmed the woman died of her injuries.

“This is the result of the bad government we have,” said a member of the mob, who gave her name as Andrea but refused to give her last name. “This isn't the first time this kind of thing has happened,” she said, referring to the murder of the girl, “but this is the first time the people have done something.”

“We are fed up,” she said. “This time it was an 8-year-old girl.”

The mayor of Taxco, Mario Figueroa, said he shared residents' outrage over the killing. Figueroa said a total of three people beaten by the mob — the woman and two men — had been taken away by police. Video from the scene suggested they had also been beaten, though The Associated Press witnessed only the beating of the woman.

The state prosecutors' office said the two men were hospitalized. There was no immediate information on their condition.

In a statement issued soon after the event, Figueroa complained he did not get any help from the state government for his small, outnumbered municipal police force.

“Unfortunately, up to now we have not received any help or answers,” Figueroa said.

The Good Friday eve religious procession, which dates back centuries in the old silver-mining town, went off as planned Thursday night.

People crowded Taxco's colonial streets to watch hooded men walking while whipping themselves or carrying heavy bundles of thorns across their bare shoulders in penitence to emulate the suffering of Jesus Christ carrying the cross.

But the earlier flash of violence cast a pall over the already solemn procession, which draws thousands to the small town.

Many participants wore small white ribbons of mourning.

“I never thought that in a touristic place like Taxco we would experience a lynching,” said Felipa Lagunas, a local elementary school teacher. “I saw it as something distant, in places far from civilization ... I never imagined that my community would experience this on such a special day.”

Mob attacks in rural Mexico are common . In 2018, two men were torched by an angry crowd in the central state of Puebla, and the next day a man and woman were dragged from their vehicle, beaten and set afire in the neighboring state of Hidalgo.

But Taxco and other cities in Guerrero state have been particularly prone to violence.

In late January, Taxco endured a days-long strike by private taxi and van drivers who suffered threats from one of several drug gangs fighting for control of the area. The situation was so bad that police had to give people rides in the back of their patrol vehicles.

Around the same time, the bullet-ridden bodies of two detectives were found on the outskirts of Taxco. Local media said their bodies showed signs of torture.

In February, Figueroa's own bulletproof car was shot up by gunmen on motorcycles.

In Taxco and throughout Guerrero state, drug cartels and gangs routinely prey on the local population, demanding protection payments from store owners, taxi and bus drivers. They kill those who refuse to pay.

Residents said they have had enough, even though the violence may further affect tourism.

“We know the town lives off of Holy Week (tourism) and that this is going to mess it up. There will be a lot of people who won't want to come anymore,” said Andrea, the woman who was in the mob. “We make our living off tourism, but we cannot continue to allow them to do these things to us.”

Associated Press writer Mark Stevenson in Mexico City contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

Copyright 2024 The  Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Photos You Should See - May 2024

A voter fills out a ballot paper during general elections in Nkandla, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa, Wednesday May 29, 2024. South Africans are voting in an election seen as their country's most important in 30 years, and one that could put them in unknown territory in the short history of their democracy, the three-decade dominance of the African National Congress party being the target of a new generation of discontent in a country of 62 million people — half of whom are estimated to be living in poverty. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

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Vigilante mob in Mexico tourist city brutally beats woman accused of kidnapping girl

Police watched on as the woman was dragged out of a car and beaten on the street, article bookmarked.

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A relative of an eight-year-old girl, who was kidnapped the previous day, weeps as her body is handed over to family

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A mob in the Mexican tourist city of Taxco has brutally beat a woman they suspected of kidnapping and killing a young girl, just hours before the city’s famous Holy Week procession.

On the eve of Good Friday, men walk through the colonial streets of Taxco wearing hoods, whipping themselves or carrying heavy bundles of thorns in penitence. That and other Holy Week processions date back centuries in the old silver-mining town.

The mob formed after an eight-year-old girl disappeared on Wednesday; her body was found on a road on the outskirts of the city early Thursday. Security camera footage appeared to show a woman and a man loading a bundle, which may have been the girl's body, into a taxi.

The mob surrounded the woman's house on Thursday, threatening to drag her out. Police bundled the woman into the bed of a police pickup truck, but then stood by — apparently intimidated by the crowd — as members of the mob dragged her back into the street and stomped, kicked and pummeled her until she lay, partly stripped and motionless, on the street.

Police then picked her up and took her away; the pavement was stained with blood.

“This is the result of the bad government we have,” said a member of the mob, who gave her name as Andrea but refused to give her last name. “This isn't the first time this kind of thing has happened,” she said, referring to the murder of the girl, “but this is the first time the people have done something.”

“We are fed up,” she said. “This time it was an 8-year-old girl.”

The prosecutors' office in the state of Guerrero , where Taxco is located, did not respond to requests for comment on the case.

A woman holds a sign with a message that reads in Spanish: ‘Justice for Cami’

The Mayor of Taxco, Mario Figueroa, said he shared residents' outrage over the killing. Figueroa said a total of three suspects — the woman and two men — had been rescued by police. Video from the scene suggested they had also been beaten, though The Associated Press witnessed only the beating of the woman.

In a statement issued soon after the event, Figueroa complained he did not get any help from the state government for his small, outnumbered municipal police force.

“Unfortunately, up to now we have not received any help or answers,” Figueroa said.

Mob attacks in rural Mexico are shockingly common. In 2018, two men were torched by an angry mob in the central state of Puebla , and the next day, a man and woman were dragged from their vehicle, beaten and set afire in the neighboring state of Hidalgo.

But Taxco and other cities in Guerrero state have been particularly prone to violence.

Funeral workers carry the coffin that contain the remains of an 8-year-old girl, in Taxco, Mexico

In late January, Taxco endured a days-long strike by private taxi and van drivers who suffered threats from one of several drug gangs fighting for control of the area. The situation was so bad that police had to give people rides in the back of their patrol vehicles.

Around the same time, the bullet-ridden bodies of two detectives were found on the outskirts of Taxco. Local media said their bodies showed signs of torture.

In February, Figueroa's own bulletproof car was shot up by gunmen on motorcycles.

In Taxco and throughout Guerrero state, drug cartels and gangs routinely prey on the local population, demanding protection payments from store owners, taxi and bus drivers. They kill those who refuse to pay.

Local residents said they have had enough, even though the violence may further affect tourism.

“We know the town lives off of Holy Week (tourism) and that this is going to mess it up, there will be a lot of people who won't want to come anymore,” said Andrea, the local resident. “We make our living off tourism, but we cannot continue to allow them to do these things to us.”

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Mexico investigates death of US tourist seen in viral fight video

Cause of death seemed to be severe spinal cord injury, but officials cannot confirm.

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Mexican prosecutors said Thursday they have opened an investigation into the death of a U.S. woman seen being beaten in a video that has gone viral .

Prosecutors in the state of Baja California Sur said in a statement they are investigating the death of a woman they identified only as a foreigner, at a resort development in the town of San Jose del Cabo.

A state official who was not authorized to be quoted by name confirmed the victim was Shanquella Robinson. The official confirmed that the group she had been traveling with had since left Mexico.

A video apparently taped at a luxury villa in San Jose del Cabo shows one woman, apparently an American, beating another woman.

BAHAMAS SENDS SAMPLES TO US LABS FROM 3 TOURISTS WHO DIED AT SANDALS RESORT

The video has been reposted many times on social media sites. In it, a man with an American accent can be heard saying "Can you at least fight back?" The man did not appear to intervene in the beating.

Prosecutors said police found Robinson dead at the villa on Oct. 29.

The Charlotte, North Carolina station Queen City News published a report saying Robinson died of a severe spinal cord injury.

Shops in Cabo

In Mexico, a tourist was killed on Oct. 29 who was seen in a viral video being beaten. Prosecutors investigating the death of the woman said she died from a severe spinal cord injury. Pictured: Pharmacies and souvenir shops in the city centre of San Jose del Cabo on the peninsula of Baja California Sur, Mexico. (Marica van der Meer/Arterra/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Mexican officials said they could not confirm that was the cause of death, because it was part of an ongoing investigation.

The video raised questions about why nobody intervened in the purported beating, or why people she was traveling with would have beaten her.

In another case in a different part of Baja California Sur, prosecutors said they had arrested three men and one woman in the Oct. 25 disappearance of another American , identified as Rodney Davis, 73.

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Davis was last seen near El Juncalito beach in the township of Loreto, well to the north of San Jose del Cabo.

The three suspects face kidnapping charges. Davis's body was found two days later on a nearby highway.

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Mob beats to death suspected kidnapper in Mexico hours before Holy Week procession

People stand around a woman who was beaten by a mob that dragged her from a police vehicle under suspicion that she had participated in the kidnapping and killing of an 8-year-old girl in Taxco, Mexico, March 28, 2024. The woman died of her injuries.

TAXCO, Mexico — A mob in the Mexican tourist city of Taxco brutally beat a woman to death Thursday because she was suspected of kidnapping and killing a young girl, rampaging just hours before the city’s famous Holy Week procession.

The mob formed after an 8-year-old girl disappeared Wednesday. Her body was found on a road on the outskirts of the city early Thursday. Security camera footage appeared to show a woman and a man loading a bundle, which may have been the girl’s body, into a taxi.

The mob surrounded the woman’s house Thursday, threatening to drag her out. Police took the woman into the bed of a police pickup truck, but then stood by — apparently intimidated by the crowd — as members of the mob dragged her out of the truck and down onto the street where they stomped, kicked and pummeled her until she lay, partly stripped and motionless.

Police then picked her up and took her away, leaving the pavement stained with blood. The Guerrero state prosecutors’ office later confirmed the woman died of her injuries.

“This is the result of the bad government we have,” said a member of the mob, who gave her name as Andrea but refused to give her last name. “This isn’t the first time this kind of thing has happened,” she said, referring to the murder of the girl, “but this is the first time the people have done something.”

“We are fed up,” she said. “This time it was an 8-year-old girl.”

A relative of an 8-year-old girl, who was kidnapped the previous day, weeps as her body is handed over to family in Taxco, Mexico, Thursday, March 28, 2024.

The mayor of Taxco, Mario Figueroa, said he shared residents’ outrage over the killing. Figueroa said a total of three people beaten by the mob — the woman and two men — had been taken away by police. Video from the scene suggested they had also been beaten, though The Associated Press witnessed only the beating of the woman.

The state prosecutors’ office said the two men were hospitalized. There was no immediate information on their condition.

In a statement issued soon after the event, Figueroa complained he did not get any help from the state government for his small, outnumbered municipal police force.

“Unfortunately, up to now we have not received any help or answers,” Figueroa said.

The Good Friday eve religious procession, which dates back centuries in the old silver-mining town, went off as planned Thursday night.

People crowded Taxco’s colonial streets to watch hooded men walking while whipping themselves or carrying heavy bundles of thorns across their bare shoulders in penitence to emulate the suffering of Jesus Christ carrying the cross.

Penitents carry a bundle of thorny branches during a Holy Week procession in Taxco, Mexico, Thursday, March 28, 2024.

But the earlier flash of violence cast a pall over the already solemn procession, which draws thousands to the small town.

Many participants wore small white ribbons of mourning.

“I never thought that in a touristic place like Taxco we would experience a lynching,” said Felipa Lagunas, a local elementary school teacher. “I saw it as something distant, in places far from civilization ... I never imagined that my community would experience this on such a special day.”

Mob attacks in rural Mexico are common . In 2018, two men were torched by an angry crowd in the central state of Puebla, and the next day a man and woman were dragged from their vehicle, beaten and set afire in the neighboring state of Hidalgo.

But Taxco and other cities in Guerrero state have been particularly prone to violence.

In late January, Taxco  endured a days-long strike  by private taxi and van drivers who suffered threats from one of several drug gangs fighting for control of the area. The situation was so bad that police had to give people rides in the back of their patrol vehicles.

Around the same time, the bullet-ridden bodies of two detectives were found on the outskirts of Taxco. Local media said their bodies showed signs of torture.

In February, Figueroa’s own bulletproof car was shot up by gunmen on motorcycles.

In Taxco and throughout Guerrero state, drug cartels and gangs routinely  prey on the local population, demanding protection payments from store owners, taxi and bus drivers.  They kill those who refuse to pay.

Residents said they have had enough, even though the violence may further affect tourism.

“We know the town lives off of Holy Week (tourism) and that this is going to mess it up. There will be a lot of people who won’t want to come anymore,” said Andrea, the woman who was in the mob. “We make our living off tourism, but we cannot continue to allow them to do these things to us.”

tourist beaten to death in mexico

The Associated Press

La Prensa Latina Bilingual Media

Woman Suspected of Kidnapping and Killing Girl is Beaten To Death By Mob in Mexican Tourist City

Linchan a una mujer acusada del secuestro y asesinato de una niña de ocho años en taxco, méxico.

tourist beaten to death in mexico

MEXICO (CBS News) — A mob in the Mexican tourist city of Taxco brutally beat a woman to death Thursday because she was suspected of kidnapping and killing a young girl, rampaging just hours before the city’s famous Holy Week procession.

The mob formed after an 8-year-old girl disappeared Wednesday. Her body was found on a road on the outskirts of the city early Thursday. Security camera footage appeared to show a woman and a man loading a bundle, which may have been the girl’s body, into a taxi.

The mob surrounded the woman’s house Thursday, threatening to drag her out. Police took the woman into the bed of a police pickup truck, but then stood by – apparently intimidated by the crowd – as members of the mob dragged her out of the truck and down onto the street where they stomped, kicked and pummeled her until she lay, partly stripped and motionless.

Police then picked her up and took her away, leaving the pavement stained with blood. The Guerrero state prosecutors’ office later confirmed the woman died of her injuries.

“This is the result of the bad government we have,” said a member of the mob, who gave her name as Andrea but refused to give her last name. “This isn’t the first time this kind of thing has happened,” she said, referring to the murder of the girl, “but this is the first time the people have done something.”

“We are fed up,” she said. “This time it was an 8-year-old girl.”

The mayor of Taxco, Mario Figueroa, said he shared residents’ outrage over the killing. Figueroa said a total of three people beaten by the mob – the woman and two men – had been taken away by police. Video from the scene suggested they had also been beaten, though The Associated Press witnessed only the beating of the woman.

MÉXICO (El País) — Una mujer murió ayer jueves en un linchamiento por parte de habitantes de Taxco, en el Estado de Guerrero, al sur de México. La fallecida era la principal sospechosa del secuestro y asesinato de Camila Gómez, una niña de ocho años. El ataque a golpes contra la supuesta secuestradora y dos cómplices fue captado por las cámaras de los medios de comunicación. La mujer murió tras ser auxiliada por policías y elementos de la Guardia Nacional, y trasladada a un hospital de la zona. Reporteros locales informan de que las otras dos personas fueron ingresadas también.

El linchamiento se produjo después de que decenas de habitantes bloquearan la avenida principal de la ciudad, de 105.000 habitantes, y se concentraran afuera de la casa de la mujer para exigir su detención. Agentes ministeriales explicaron que no contaban con una orden y que no podían consumar el arresto. Los manifestantes volcaron un par de vehículos y rompieron el cerco de alrededor de una veintena de policías para sacar de la vivienda a los sospechosos del crimen. Las tres personas fueron agredidas a golpes, patadas y con palos.

El alcalde, Mario Figueroa, dijo que las personas que fueron retenidas serán puestas a disposición de las autoridades. La niña Camila Gómez fue reportada como desaparecida el miércoles en el barrio de La Florida y hallada muerta en la madrugada de este jueves. Las primeras versiones apuntan a que la menor fue secuestrada por una pareja a bordo de un taxi en un callejón. Poco después de que se dio a conocer el hallazgo, vecinos y conocidos de la víctima iniciaron la protesta.

Figueroa achacó el linchamiento a que los cuerpos municipales sólo cuentan con alrededor de 40 policías y que no recibieron apoyo de las autoridades del Estado de Guerrero. Parte de los agentes habían sido desplegados para acompañar una procesión de Semana Santa, señaló el presidente municipal. El edil celebró que había una fuerte presencia de turistas en la ciudad, famosa por su arquitectura colonial y el comercio de plata, y descartó cancelar los festejos religiosos en una entrevista con ADN 40. “Estamos pasando por una situación que vamos enderezando”, dijo Figueroa, al rechazar que hubiera una crisis de inseguridad y violencia.

Photo: Cuarto Oscuro

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New video has emerged of a US woman shortly before her mysterious death at a Mexican resort — as she playfully jokes with friends.

Shanquella Robinson, 25, North Carolina, sounds upbeat in the clip, which she reportedly shot at the luxury Fundadores Beach Club in San José del Cabo, according to RadarOnline .

“It don’t take that long to get naked. Where y’all at?” Robinson yells lightheartedly as she walks into a room at CaboVillas.com’s Villa Linda 32 where the group discusses what bathing outfits to wear.

The short clip was posted on The Neighborhood Talk account on Instagram , where users shared their thoughts about the woman’s demise, the New York Post reports.

“WOWWWWW this is sad. You can tell they had a problem with her. And probably didn’t say anything cuz she walked in recording,” one person wrote.

“This story breaks my heart, man. Imagine going on vacation just trying to enjoy your life and walking right into a death sentence. I hope they all get life… In Mexico,” another said.

“Their energy was so cold when she went into the room. She had no idea what was coming,” a third user wrote.

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Shanquella Robinson, 25, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was found dead in Mexico, where she was visiting with friends to celebrate a birthday. Picture: Instagram / @shanaquella_robinso

Robinson, who travelled to the resort with a group of friends on October 28, was found dead the following day.

At first, her friends said she died from alcohol poisoning, but a homicide probe was launched after an autopsy found she suffered “severe spinal cord injury and atlas luxation,” an instability of the first two neck vertebrae.

A horrifying video also went viral showing her being beaten in a hotel room.

Viral video has emerged that allegedly shows Robinson being beaten at the hotel.

On Saturday, Shanquella’s father, Bernard Robinson, told TMZ that he believed the attack was a setup, because his daughter was not one to get involved in fights.

“They attacked her, man. This ain’t like some … my daughter was asleep, man. For all them to be in that room and then, you know, they come in there like no she woke up or whatever, the way it seems like they attacked her, man,” the grief-stricken dad told the outlet.

“And she naked, man. You know, for a father … to see that video, man, you know, ’cause my daughter’s not a fighter, man, she’s not a fighter, not at all,” he added.

The State Attorney-General’s Office of Baja California Sur last week said that “an investigation was initiated for femicide,” a hate crime in which women are killed due to their gender.

An autopsy showed Robinson suffered a severe spinal cord injury. Picture: Instagram / @its.quella_

On Saturday, funeral services were held for Shanquella at the Macedonia Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, WBTV reported .

“We came to ensure there is enough people putting pressure on the entire system to do what is necessary to get justice for this woman,” said activist Tamika Mallory.

“Losing a loved one in the heinous way in which has happened to Shanquella, there will probably never be peace for them,” she said.

“But there cannot just be an open situation. It has to be closed with truth and it has to be that there is accountability for those that are responsible for her death,” Mallory added.

The FBI told WBTV on Friday that it has “opened an investigation in the death of Charlotte resident Shanquella Robinson in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, on or about October 29, 2022.

More Coverage

tourist beaten to death in mexico

“Due to the ongoing investigation, we have no further comment,” the agency added.

Meanwhile, Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving — who has apologised for promoting an anti-Semitic movie — donated $US65,000 ($AUD98,370) to help pay for expenses and legal fees for Shanquella’s family, WSOC-TV reported .

This article originally appeared in the New York Post and was reproduced with permission

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Mob in Mexico brutally beats suspected kidnapper to death hours before Holy Week procession

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tourist beaten to death in mexico

TAXCO, Mexico | A mob in the Mexican tourist city of Taxco brutally beat a woman to death Thursday because she was suspected of kidnapping and killing a young girl, rampaging just hours before the city’s famous Holy Week procession.

The mob formed after an 8-year-old girl disappeared Wednesday. Her body was found on a road on the outskirts of the city early Thursday. Security camera footage appeared to show a woman and a man loading a bundle, which may have been the girl’s body, into a taxi.

The mob surrounded the woman’s house Thursday, threatening to drag her out. Police took the woman into the bed of a police pickup truck, but then stood by — apparently intimidated by the crowd — as members of the mob dragged her out of the truck and down onto the street where they stomped, kicked and pummeled her until she lay, partly stripped and motionless.

Police then picked her up and took her away, leaving the pavement stained with blood. The Guerrero state prosecutors’ office later confirmed the woman died of her injuries.

“This is the result of the bad government we have,” said a member of the mob, who gave her name as Andrea but refused to give her last name. “This isn’t the first time this kind of thing has happened,” she said, referring to the murder of the girl, “but this is the first time the people have done something.”

“We are fed up,” she said. “This time it was an 8-year-old girl.”

The mayor of Taxco, Mario Figueroa, said he shared residents’ outrage over the killing. Figueroa said a total of three people beaten by the mob — the woman and two men — had been taken away by police. Video from the scene suggested they had also been beaten, though The Associated Press witnessed only the beating of the woman.

The state prosecutors’ office said the two men were hospitalized. There was no immediate information on their condition.

In a statement issued soon after the event, Figueroa complained he did not get any help from the state government for his small, outnumbered municipal police force.

“Unfortunately, up to now we have not received any help or answers,” Figueroa said.

The Good Friday eve religious procession, which dates back centuries in the old silver-mining town, went off as planned Thursday night.

People crowded Taxco’s colonial streets to watch hooded men walking while whipping themselves or carrying heavy bundles of thorns across their bare shoulders in penitence to emulate the suffering of Jesus Christ carrying the cross.

But the earlier flash of violence cast a pall over the already solemn procession, which draws thousands to the small town.

Many participants wore small white ribbons of mourning.

“I never thought that in a touristic place like Taxco we would experience a lynching,” said Felipa Lagunas, a local elementary school teacher. “I saw it as something distant, in places far from civilization … I never imagined that my community would experience this on such a special day.”

Mob attacks in rural Mexico are common. In 2018, two men were torched by an angry crowd in the central state of Puebla, and the next day a man and woman were dragged from their vehicle, beaten and set afire in the neighboring state of Hidalgo.

But Taxco and other cities in Guerrero state have been particularly prone to violence.

In late January, Taxco endured a days-long strike by private taxi and van drivers who suffered threats from one of several drug gangs fighting for control of the area. The situation was so bad that police had to give people rides in the back of their patrol vehicles.

Around the same time, the bullet-ridden bodies of two detectives were found on the outskirts of Taxco. Local media said their bodies showed signs of torture.

In February, Figueroa’s own bulletproof car was shot up by gunmen on motorcycles.

In Taxco and throughout Guerrero state, drug cartels and gangs routinely prey on the local population, demanding protection payments from store owners, taxi and bus drivers. They kill those who refuse to pay.

Residents said they have had enough, even though the violence may further affect tourism.

“We know the town lives off of Holy Week (tourism) and that this is going to mess it up. There will be a lot of people who won’t want to come anymore,” said Andrea, the woman who was in the mob. “We make our living off tourism, but we cannot continue to allow them to do these things to us.”

Associated Press writer Mark Stevenson in Mexico City contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

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Woman struck & killed by train in mexico while trying to take selfie, tragic death woman struck & killed by train ... while trying to take selfie.

A woman suffered a tragic accident in Mexico that ended with her losing her life -- this while trying to capture a photo while a train passed ... which ended up hitting and killing her.

As documented in new harrowing footage that's making the rounds ... a 29-year-old woman in Hidalgo, Mexico recently approached a railway track to take a selfie as the CPKC's Final Spike Steam Tour train plowed ahead at full speed.

While the train blasted its horn near the gathering fans -- who came together to witness the train on its famous journey from Canada to Mexico City, a major attraction for locals -- the woman didn't move far enough out of the way ... and she was struck straight in the head.

The woman instantly fell forward and went limp, clearly unconscious ... with bystanders immediately rushing to her aid -- but unfortunately, the damage had been done.

Reports say first responders who arrived at the scene pronounced her dead. Her family was reportedly with her at the train track in Hidalgo.

CPKC has confirmed an investigation is underway, adding in a statement ... "We are deeply saddened by this loss of life and wish to express our condolences to the woman’s family and loved ones."

They add, "For their own safety and that of the crews, all spectators looking at any train must always remain at least 10 meters back from the train and the tracks. Spectators must never stand on railway tracks, try to board rail equipment or climb on rail infrastructure.

Finally, CPKC said ... "Always use caution around tracks and trains." A cautionary tale, indeed.

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Woman struck, killed by CPKC steam tour train in Mexico (updated)

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The news site Debate reports that the woman was standing next to the tracks trying to take a selfie with the train’s locomotive; photos of the moment before the woman was struck are widespread on news sites and social media, and a video of the accident is also circulating. Other photos show a huge number of spectators crowding the tracks near the Aragón station in the muncipality of Nopala de Villagrán, where CP 4-6-4 No. 2816 and the CPKC executive train were scheduled to make a 20-minute stop at 12:25 p.m. Reports say that spectators ignored instructions from security at the site to maintain a safe distance from the track.

The woman was pronounced dead at the scene upon the arrival of emergency responders. She has been identified but her name has not been released. Other family members were reportedly with her at the time of the accident.

The site of the incident is about 60 miles northwest of Mexico City.

“Tragically, we regret to share that a woman was fatally injured while standing foul of a passing train soon after it departed Ahorcado,” CPKC said in a statement this evening. “This tragic incident is under investigation.

“We are deeply saddened by this loss of life and wish to express our condolences to the woman’s family and loved ones.

“For their own safety and that of the crews, all spectators looking at any train must always remain at least 10 meters back from the train and the tracks. Spectators must never stand on railway tracks, try to board rail equipment or climb on rail infrastructure. Always use caution around tracks and trains.”

The incident unfortunately recalls a 2018 incident in which a spectator was struck and killed by a Union Pacific steam special with 4-8-4 No. 844 in Commerce City, Colo. That incident also involved a woman who was too close to the tracks while trying to take a photo of the passing train [see “Details emerge about a pedestrian struck and killed …,” Trains News Wire, July 23, 2018, and “Investigators rule UP 844 excursion death accidental …,” News Wire, Aug. 5, 2018].

— Updated at 7:15 p.m. with CPKC statement.

6 thoughts on “ Woman struck, killed by CPKC steam tour train in Mexico (updated) ”

Darwin has no sympathy for the stupid…doesn’t matter what country you’re in, there’s always at least one in the crowd and sometimes more. People that this happens to bring it on themselves and as far as I’m concerned don’t get my sympathy…perhaps the family will get some sympathy, but not much because they are somewhat culpable, but not the actual person this happened to.

She was a You Tube and Instagram “influencer”. Looking at the pictures of the crowds up against the ROW where it happened, I am surprised no one else got hurt.

Most of the videos of the incident have been pulled down for policy violations on the host.

The only steam engine you should take a selfie with is one that is not moving.

She was hit by the cylinder box at about 35mph to the back of her head. She was kneeling to take the picture when a little boy sat next to her and she stuck her hand out towards him for a second. Just as she looked back up at her phone it was too late. She landed on top of the little boy who crawled away and jumped into the hands of another woman nearby.

Somewhat weird is many people around her thought she was simply knocked out (or didn’t see it) and kept recording the train going by. I assume it was her husband or just a near by male that reached up and pulled her further down the ballast and started screaming for help.

People please, moving trains are not selfie material! The only influence you can gain by doing this is with the funeral home.

Such a tragedy. Condolences and Prayers for the family. The experience of The Empress Tour is such a joyful event when things are running as they should. This tour has been a “Royal” publicicity opportunity for CPKS where I know, SAFETY comes first. Kudos to CPKC for stitching our nations together. A sad shadow is cast over the day but joy is just up the line.

ooops….CPKC …the Southern adds .such flair to her maiden name. She will be greatly missed. Again, PRAYERS for this lady’s family and friends

Sympathy and prayers.

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British tourist ‘in coma’ after being kicked in the head by Thai bar bouncer

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A British tourist is said to be in a coma fighting for his life after a security guard at a bar in Thailand kicked him in the head.

Video shared online shows the brutal attack, which happened on Friday evening at Helicopters Bar in the red light district of Pattaya following a dispute over a drinks bill.

The bouncer, who has apologised for his actions, was working alongside two others when an argument broke out between the bar’s hostess and three British men.

The hostess said the men insulted her when she told them some of their bill hadn’t been paid and refused to hand over any money, saying they were being scammed.

She called security and CCTV shows the tourists settled their bill, but one of them then pushed one of the bouncers, causing a brawl to break out in the street.

Footage shows three bouncers knocking two of the British men to the ground.

One of the tourists is seen lying on the ground while raising his hands pleading for them to stop.

A British tourist is in a coma after a bouncer football kicked him in the head in Thailand. The holidaymaker and two friends had been drinking at the notorious Soi 6 road in red-light city Pattaya when they began arguing over the bill on Friday evening. They claimed that the bar had tried to scam them by inflating the receipt - a common trick in the city - sparking angry scenes with the assembled hookers at the Helicopter Bar. Three security guards intervened and attacked two of the men - one in a grey shirt and one in a white shirt - knocking them both to the ground. Footage shows the tourist lying on the ground while raising his hands pleading for them to stop. However, one of the guards then takes a run-up and kicked his head at full force. The victim was lifeless on the ground for several minutes.??????PACKAGE: Video, pictures, text

A guard then takes a run-up and kicks the man in the head at full force. The Metro has decided not to show the part where he makes impact.

The victim is seen lifeless on the ground for several minutes and witnesses claimed he was now in a coma in intensive care.

Police said the guards had been warned about their conduct but not arrested as no one had filed a complaint.

Sergeant Major Arthon from the Pattaya City police station said: ‘There’s no case open until they complain. We’ve had a look around but can’t find them.

‘Yes, we’re still checking CCTV to see what happened to them. There are rumours that he is in intensive care but we haven’t heard anything from hospitals.’

A British tourist is in a coma after a bouncer football kicked him in the head in Thailand. The holidaymaker and two friends had been drinking at the notorious Soi 6 road in red-light city Pattaya when they began arguing over the bill on Friday evening. They claimed that the bar had tried to scam them by inflating the receipt - a common trick in the city - sparking angry scenes with the assembled hookers at the Helicopter Bar. Three security guards intervened and attacked two of the men - one in a grey shirt and one in a white shirt - knocking them both to the ground. Footage shows the tourist lying on the ground while raising his hands pleading for them to stop. However, one of the guards then takes a run-up and kicked his head at full force. The victim was lifeless on the ground for several minutes.??????PACKAGE: Video, pictures, text

The bouncer who kicked the man in the head spoke on video saying: ‘We did not know the amount of the bill that the tourists did not pay. We arrived after being called by a cashier to protect her because she was afraid.

‘I want to apologise to society and Pattaya authorities for overdoing it by continuing to attack the tourists when they were down. I acted out of temper after being attacked first.

‘We work as part of a group of security guards. There are five of us and we are hired by 28 bars on the road.’

A British tourist is in a coma after a bouncer football kicked him in the head in Thailand. The holidaymaker and two friends had been drinking at the notorious Soi 6 road in red-light city Pattaya when they began arguing over the bill on Friday evening. They claimed that the bar had tried to scam them by inflating the receipt - a common trick in the city - sparking angry scenes with the assembled hookers at the Helicopter Bar (PICTURED). Three security guards intervened and attacked two of the men - one in a grey shirt and one in a white shirt - knocking them both to the ground. Footage shows the tourist lying on the ground while raising his hands pleading for them to stop. However, one of the guards then takes a run-up and kicked his head at full force. The victim was lifeless on the ground for several minutes.??????PACKAGE: Video, pictures, text

Bar hostess Samorn said that the three men had paid two sex workers to drink with them.

She added: ‘Two of the tourists had paid their bills, but another had not and changed his seat several times.

‘I asked them to pay the bill, but the tourist in the white shirt argued that he had already paid. I explained that the money was the payment of someone who had not paid and not his own bill.

‘They insulted me and said the bar was trying to scam them, so I called the security over and told them the tourist would not pay his bill.’

A British tourist is in a coma after a bouncer football kicked him in the head in Thailand. The holidaymaker and two friends had been drinking at the notorious Soi 6 road in red-light city Pattaya when they began arguing over the bill on Friday evening. They claimed that the bar had tried to scam them by inflating the receipt - a common trick in the city - sparking angry scenes with the assembled hookers at the Helicopter Bar. Three security guards intervened and attacked two of the men - one in a grey shirt and one in a white shirt - knocking them both to the ground. Footage shows the tourist lying on the ground while raising his hands pleading for them to stop. However, one of the guards then takes a run-up and kicked his head at full force. The victim was lifeless on the ground for several minutes.??????PACKAGE: Video, pictures, text

Police Colonel Nawin Thirawit, superintendent of Pattaya Police Station, said that the bouncers’ actions had tarnished the image of Pattaya.

They were invited to the police station and apologised for ‘damaging the image of the country’.

The policeman said: ‘The security guards should have prevented the incident and reported it to the police.

‘Anyone who works in this industry must keep their emotions in check and focus on preventing incidents rather than attacking people.

A British tourist is in a coma after a bouncer football kicked him in the head in Thailand. The holidaymaker and two friends had been drinking at the notorious Soi 6 road in red-light city Pattaya when they began arguing over the bill on Friday evening. They claimed that the bar had tried to scam them by inflating the receipt - a common trick in the city - sparking angry scenes with the assembled hookers at the Helicopter Bar. Three security guards intervened and attacked two of the men - one in a grey shirt and one in a white shirt - knocking them both to the ground. Footage shows the tourist lying on the ground while raising his hands pleading for them to stop. However, one of the guards then takes a run-up and kicked his head at full force. The victim was lifeless on the ground for several minutes.??????PACKAGE: Video, pictures, text

‘Cases like this can damage the reputation of the city and deter tourists from visiting.’

Helicopter Bar, which is understood to have British owners, did not respond to requests for comment.

Pattaya – once a quiet fishing village – is now known for its resorts, 24-hour clubs and red-light district.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected] .

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Mob in Mexico brutally beats suspected kidnapper to death hours before Holy Week procession

TAXCO, Mexico (AP) — A mob in the Mexican tourist city of Taxco brutally beat a woman to death Thursday because she was suspected of kidnapping and killing a young girl, rampaging just hours before the city’s famous Holy Week procession.

The mob formed after an 8-year-old girl disappeared Wednesday. Her body was found on a road on the outskirts of the city early Thursday. Security camera footage appeared to show a woman and a man loading a bundle, which may have been the girl's body, into a taxi.

The mob surrounded the woman's house Thursday, threatening to drag her out. Police took the woman into the bed of a police pickup truck, but then stood by — apparently intimidated by the crowd — as members of the mob dragged her out of the truck and down onto the street where they stomped, kicked and pummeled her until she lay, partly stripped and motionless.

Police then picked her up and took her away, leaving the pavement stained with blood. The Guerrero state prosecutors’ office later confirmed the woman died of her injuries.

“This is the result of the bad government we have,” said a member of the mob, who gave her name as Andrea but refused to give her last name. “This isn't the first time this kind of thing has happened,” she said, referring to the murder of the girl, “but this is the first time the people have done something.”

“We are fed up,” she said. “This time it was an 8-year-old girl.”

The mayor of Taxco, Mario Figueroa, said he shared residents' outrage over the killing. Figueroa said a total of three people beaten by the mob — the woman and two men — had been taken away by police. Video from the scene suggested they had also been beaten, though The Associated Press witnessed only the beating of the woman.

The state prosecutors' office said the two men were hospitalized. There was no immediate information on their condition.

In a statement issued soon after the event, Figueroa complained he did not get any help from the state government for his small, outnumbered municipal police force.

“Unfortunately, up to now we have not received any help or answers,” Figueroa said.

The Good Friday eve religious procession, which dates back centuries in the old silver-mining town, went off as planned Thursday night.

People crowded Taxco's colonial streets to watch hooded men walking while whipping themselves or carrying heavy bundles of thorns across their bare shoulders in penitence to emulate the suffering of Jesus Christ carrying the cross.

But the earlier flash of violence cast a pall over the already solemn procession, which draws thousands to the small town.

Many participants wore small white ribbons of mourning.

“I never thought that in a touristic place like Taxco we would experience a lynching,” said Felipa Lagunas, a local elementary school teacher. “I saw it as something distant, in places far from civilization ... I never imagined that my community would experience this on such a special day.”

Mob attacks in rural Mexico are common . In 2018, two men were torched by an angry crowd in the central state of Puebla, and the next day a man and woman were dragged from their vehicle, beaten and set afire in the neighboring state of Hidalgo.

But Taxco and other cities in Guerrero state have been particularly prone to violence.

In late January, Taxco endured a days-long strike by private taxi and van drivers who suffered threats from one of several drug gangs fighting for control of the area. The situation was so bad that police had to give people rides in the back of their patrol vehicles.

Around the same time, the bullet-ridden bodies of two detectives were found on the outskirts of Taxco. Local media said their bodies showed signs of torture.

In February, Figueroa's own bulletproof car was shot up by gunmen on motorcycles.

In Taxco and throughout Guerrero state, drug cartels and gangs routinely prey on the local population, demanding protection payments from store owners, taxi and bus drivers. They kill those who refuse to pay.

Residents said they have had enough, even though the violence may further affect tourism.

“We know the town lives off of Holy Week (tourism) and that this is going to mess it up. There will be a lot of people who won't want to come anymore,” said Andrea, the woman who was in the mob. “We make our living off tourism, but we cannot continue to allow them to do these things to us.”

Associated Press writer Mark Stevenson in Mexico City contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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Why Are So Many Mexican Election Candidates Getting Killed?

Across Mexico, dozens of candidates, their relatives and party members have been targeted in violent attacks before next month’s general election.

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People, including and armed police officer, can be seen shown in shadows outside against an otherwise clear and sunny day.

By Emiliano Rodríguez Mega

Reporting from Mexico City

One candidate was shot multiple times as he worked out at the gym. Another died after gunmen opened fire during her campaign rally. A third was walking the streets with her supporters when gunfire broke out .

Across Mexico, dozens of candidates, their relatives and party members have been targeted in violent attacks ahead of next month’s general election, which will be the country’s largest election ever in terms of voters and seats. At least 36 people seeking office have been killed since last June, a New York Times analysis found.

It’s a gruesome milestone even for Mexico, where violence has been a part of campaign seasons for decades.

Why is election violence so bad?

The surge in violence plaguing Mexico can largely be traced to local criminal groups, according to security analysts and law enforcement officials.

The fracturing of Mexico’s larger organized crime syndicates has given rise to rival gangs locked in fierce battles for power and territory. In their quests for dominance, these gangs have resorted to co-opting and intimidating the authorities to exert control over communities — an attempt to secure protection, obtain valuable information and grow their operations.

A sharp increase in violence during elections is not unusual in Mexico. In the last election cycle, in 2021, when voters across the country cast ballots for more than 19,900 local posts, at least 32 candidates were killed, according to a study published by the College of Mexico, a university in Mexico City.

“It’s about warning the other candidates to lower their profile, you know? A reminder that they’re not in charge,” said Manuel Pérez Aguirre, a political scientist who cowrote the study. “And also to citizens, so they know that there’s someone watching. It’s a democracy. But it’s a surveilled democracy.”

The expanding violence can also be attributed in part to the scale of the election and the vast number of candidates: With over 20,000 local positions up for grabs, and more than 600 at the federal level, this year’s election is the largest in Mexico’s history.

Why are candidates being killed?

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why certain candidates have been targeted. Many of the political assassinations from the past year and previous election cycles remain unsolved.

Officials say a few killings were more criminal or personal in nature. A car theft gone wrong. A fight with a family member that ended tragically.

But The Times found that there was suspected involvement of organized crime groups in at least 28 of the 36 candidate killings in this campaign season, according to statements by local law enforcement authorities, party leaders and local news coverage. Heightening the sense of terror, not only candidates but their family members are being targeted, with at least 14 such relatives killed in recent months.

Why have local candidates been targeted the most?

For cartels, influencing politics is done most effectively at the local level.

“Structurally, it is the most vulnerable, the weakest, the one with the least resources, the one with the least institutional strength,” said Arturo Espinosa, the director of Electoral Laboratory, a Mexican research group focused on democracy, which has so far documented 272 cases of election violence across the country — including killings, threats, abductions and attacks.

The trend speaks to the aims of organized crime groups to become de facto rulers of towns across Mexico, mostly for economic reasons.

“It’s about being able to infiltrate municipal governments, capturing government resources, having access to information that is crucial to their operation, seizing control of security forces,” said Sandra Ley, a security analyst with the public policy group Mexico Evaluates.

What is the government doing to quell the violence?

In response to the killings, the country’s electoral agency has coordinated with federal security forces, like the army and the National Guard, to provide protection to candidates who request it. This past week, Mexican officials said that security forces were providing protection to 487 candidates.

State governments are also deploying state and municipal police officers to keep dozens of local candidates safe. But a lack of resources, bureaucratic hurdles and a weakened local police have made it difficult to keep organized crime at bay. “Many of these authorities have been left vulnerable,” Ms. Ley said.

Emiliano Rodríguez Mega is a reporter and researcher for The Times based in Mexico City, covering Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. More about Emiliano Rodríguez Mega

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Mexico wants American extradited on charges in tourist death

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CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico (AP) — Mexican prosecutors said Thursday they have filed charges against a U.S. woman on suspicion of killing another American seen being beaten in a viral video.

Prosecutors in the state of Baja California Sur did not name the suspect in the Oct. 29 death of Shanquella Robinson.

But they said they have approached Mexican federal prosecutors and diplomats to try to get the woman extradited to face charges in Mexico.

Robinson’s death at a resort development in the Baja resort town of San Jose del Cabo shocked people in both countries. The video raised suspicions that Robinson may have died at the hands of people she was travelling with.

Local prosecutor Antonio López Rodríguez said the case was being treated as a potential homicide and an arrest warrant had been issued for the suspect. However, the group Robinson was travelling with left Mexico after she was found dead in a rented villa.

State prosecutor Daniel de la Rosa Anaya said the suspect was also an American, but did not identify her.

Local media in Charlotte, North Carolina reported the people Robinson was travelling with gave differing versions of how she died, but that an autopsy revealed she died of a severe spinal chord or neck injury.

A video apparently taped at the luxury villa in San Jose del Cabo shows one woman, apparently an American, beating another woman identified as Robinson.

The video has been reposted many times on social media sites. In it, a man with an American accent can be heard saying “Can you at least fight back?” The man did not appear to intervene in the beating.

The video raised questions about why nobody intervened in the purported beating, or why people she was traveling with would have beaten her.

tourist beaten to death in mexico

North Carolina woman and her dad complete prison sentences for death of her Irish husband

tourist beaten to death in mexico

FILE - Molly Corbett, left, swears on the Bible as she pleads no contest to voluntary manslaughter in the 2015 death of her husband, Jason Corbett, during a hearing, Oct. 30, 2023, at the Davidson County Courthouse in Lexington, N.C. Molly Corbett and her father, Thomas Martens, were released from separate North Carolina prisons Thursday, June 6, 2024, after completing the tail end of their sentences for pleas to voluntary manslaughter. (Walt Unks/The Winston-Salem Journal via AP, Pool, File)[ASSOCIATED PRESS/Walt Unks]

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The wife of an Irish businessman who was beaten to death in 2015 and the woman’s father were released from separate North Carolina prisons on Thursday after completing the tail end of their sentences for pleas to voluntary manslaughter.

Molly Martens Corbett left the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women in Raleigh on Thursday morning while her father, Thomas Martens, was released from the Caldwell Correctional Center in Lenoir, the state Department of Adult Correction said in an email.

They each served about seven more months behind bars after additional sentencing in November , soon after they entered plea agreements. The pair otherwise had been poised to go back on trial late last year, after the North Carolina Supreme Court in 2021 reversed their 2017 second-degree murder convictions and ordered a new trial.

The two are now subject to one year of post-release supervision, which will be served in Tennessee, correction department spokesperson Keith Acree said.

Corbett’s husband, Jason Corbett, died at the home he shared with his wife in a golf course community in Davidson County, about 110 miles (175 kilometers) west of Raleigh.

Investigators said Molly Corbett and Martens, a former FBI agent, used an aluminum baseball bat and brick paver to kill Jason Corbett, fracturing his skull and causing injuries to his arm, legs and torso. Defense attorneys have said the two were acting in self-defense and that they feared for their lives during a struggle. His death and the resulting legal fight received intense media coverage in Ireland, as well as an episode on a U.S. true-crime show.

Each had previously been sentenced to 20 to 25 years in prison for the murder convictions. They were released on bond weeks after the Supreme Court decision.

Corbett pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter on Oct. 30 and her father pleaded guilty. While a Davidson County trial judge sentenced them to spend between 51 and 74 months in prison, they served much less in part because of credits for their previous time in prison.

Jason and Molly Corbett met in 2008 when Molly Corbett worked as an au pair, caring for two children from Jason Corbett’s first marriage. His first wife had died of an asthma attack in 2006.

In ordering a new trial, the state Supreme Court pointed to omitted statements that the two children had made during a medical evaluation soon after the death that indicated their father had been abusive in the home. Prosecutors alleged the statements were not reliable and that both children later recanted. The trial judge excluded the statements from being entered into the trial.

Jason Corbett’s children spoke at last year’s sentencing hearing,

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

IMAGES

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  5. Six tourists raped, robbed in Acapulco

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  6. US Tourist Beaten By Friend In Hotel Where She Was Found Dead

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COMMENTS

  1. Woman suspected of kidnapping and killing girl is beaten to death by

    Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador: The 60 Minutes Interview 13:14. A mob in the Mexican tourist city of Taxco brutally beat a woman to death Thursday because she was suspected of ...

  2. Mob in Mexico brutally beats suspected kidnapper to death hours before

    TAXCO, Mexico (AP) — A mob in the Mexican tourist city of Taxco brutally beat a woman to death Thursday because she was suspected of kidnapping and killing a young girl, rampaging just hours before the city's famous Holy Week procession. The mob formed after an 8-year-old girl disappeared Wednesday.

  3. US citizen accused of killing North Carolina woman while ...

    The death certificate classified Robinson's death as "accidental or violent," noting the approximate time between injury and death was 15 minutes. Viral video shows Robinson being beaten

  4. Video shows woman being attacked in Mexico before being killed

    A video circulating online shows a fight between a woman and Shanquella Robinson, the woman killed while vacationing in Cabo San Lucas with friends. CNN's Randi Kaye reports.

  5. Mob in Mexico beats kidnapping suspect to death hours before Holy Week

    TAXCO, Mexico —. A mob in Taxco beat a woman to death because she was suspected of kidnapping and killing a young girl, rampaging just hours before the Mexican tourist city's famous Holy Week ...

  6. Mexico wants American extradited on charges in tourist death

    Nov. 25, 2022, 8:49 AM PST. By Associated Press. CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico — Mexican prosecutors have filed charges against a U.S. woman suspected of killing another American seen being beaten in a ...

  7. Mob in Mexico beats woman suspected of killing 8-year-old to death

    Residents gather as the coffin that contain the remains of an 8-year-old girl is delivered to family, in Taxco, Mexico, Thursday, March 28, 2024. A mob in the Mexican tourist city of Taxco brutally beat a woman to death Thursday because she was suspected of kidnapping and killing a young girl, rampaging just hours before the city's famous ...

  8. Mob in Mexico brutally beats suspected kidnapper to death hours before

    The Canadian Press. March 28, 2024 · 4 min read. TAXCO, Mexico (AP) — A mob in the Mexican tourist city of Taxco brutally beat a woman to death Thursday because she was suspected of kidnapping and killing a young girl, rampaging just hours before the city's famous Holy Week procession. On the eve of Good Friday, men walk through the ...

  9. Mexico wants American extradited on charges in tourist death

    Mexico wants American extradited on charges in tourist death. CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico (AP) — Mexican prosecutors have filed charges against a U.S. woman suspected of killing another American seen being beaten in a viral video. Prosecutors in the state of Baja California Sur did not name the suspect in the Oct. 29 death of Shanquella Robinson.

  10. Mob in Mexico brutally beats suspected kidnapper to death hours ...

    ASSOCIATED PRESS. More. TAXCO, Mexico (AP) — A mob in the Mexican tourist city of Taxco brutally beat a woman to death Thursday because she was suspected of kidnapping and killing a young girl ...

  11. Arrest warrant issued in Mexico for death of tourist Shanquella Robinson

    Footage shows Shanquella Robinson being beaten by her attacker in a hotel room in Mexico. Robinson's death was originally thought to be alcohol poisoning, but a death certificate revealed the ...

  12. Mob in Mexico Brutally Beats Suspected Kidnapper to Death Hours Before

    TAXCO, Mexico (AP) — A mob in the Mexican tourist city of Taxco brutally beat a woman to death Thursday because she was suspected of kidnapping and killing a young girl, rampaging just hours ...

  13. Vigilante mob in Mexico tourist city brutally beats woman accused of

    A mob in the Mexican tourist city of Taxco has brutally beat a woman they suspected of kidnapping and killing a young girl, just hours before the city's famous Holy Week procession.

  14. U.S. Won't File Charges in Death of American Woman in Mexico

    Shanquella Robinson, 25, of Charlotte, N.C., had traveled last fall to Mexico with six friends. A widely circulated video appears to show her being beaten by another woman. People gathered for a ...

  15. Mexico investigates death of US tourist seen in viral fight video

    In Mexico, a tourist was killed on Oct. 29 who was seen in a viral video being beaten. Prosecutors investigating the death of the woman said she died from a severe spinal cord injury.

  16. Mob beats to death suspected kidnapper in Taxco, Mexico before Holy

    Fernando Llano / AP. TAXCO, Mexico — A mob in the Mexican tourist city of Taxco brutally beat a woman to death Thursday because she was suspected of kidnapping and killing a young girl ...

  17. Woman Suspected of Kidnapping and Killing Girl is Beaten To Death By

    MEXICO (CBS News) — A mob in the Mexican tourist city of Taxco brutally beat a woman to death Thursday because she was suspected of kidnapping and killing a young girl, rampaging just hours before the city's famous Holy Week procession. The mob formed after an 8-year-old girl disappeared Wednesday. Her body was found …

  18. US tourist with friends before mysterious death at Mexico resort

    The FBI told WBTV on Friday that it has "opened an investigation in the death of Charlotte resident Shanquella Robinson in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, on or about October 29, 2022. More Coverage ...

  19. Mob in Mexico brutally beats suspected kidnapper to death hours before

    A woman chants the Spanish word for "justice" during a demonstration protesting the kidnapping and killing of an 8-year-old girl, in the main square of Taxco, Mexico, Thursday, March 28, 2024. Hours earlier a mob beat a woman to death because she was suspected of kidnapping and killing the young girl. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

  20. Woman Struck & Killed by Train in Mexico While Trying to Take Selfie

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  21. Woman struck, killed by CPKC steam tour train in Mexico (updated)

    Get Updates. NOPALA DE VILLAGRAN, Mexico — A 29-year-old woman was struck and killed today while trying to take a photo during the passage of CPKC's Final Spike Steam Tour train in the Mexican state of Hidalgo, according to multiple media reports. The news site Debate reports that the woman was standing next to the tracks trying to take a ...

  22. Mexican candidate assassinations hit grim record ahead of Sunday's

    Mexico's election is now the bloodiest in its modern history after a candidate running for local office in central Puebla state was murdered on Friday at a political rally, taking the number of ...

  23. British tourist 'in coma' after being kicked in the head by ...

    A British tourist is said to be in a coma fighting for his life after a security guard at a bar in Thailand kicked him in the head. Video shared online shows the brutal attack, which happened on ...

  24. Mob in Mexico brutally beats suspected kidnapper to death hours before

    PUBLISHED 12:11 AM ET Mar. 29, 2024. TAXCO, Mexico (AP) — A mob in the Mexican tourist city of Taxco brutally beat a woman to death Thursday because she was suspected of kidnapping and killing a ...

  25. Why Are So Many Mexican Election Candidates Getting Killed?

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  26. Mob in Mexico brutally beats suspected kidnapper to death hours before

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  27. Mexico wants American extradited on charges in tourist death

    Published 5:34 PM PDT, November 24, 2022. CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico (AP) — Mexican prosecutors said Thursday they have filed charges against a U.S. woman on suspicion of killing another American seen being beaten in a viral video. Prosecutors in the state of Baja California Sur did not name the suspect in the Oct. 29 death of Shanquella Robinson.

  28. North Carolina woman and her dad complete prison sentences for death of

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  29. How many Blue Flag beaches does Mexico have in 2024?

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