Tourists found themselves scrambling for cover at a four-star resort in Cancun when five gunmen appeared on the beach on jet skis.
The attackers, who were dressed as soldiers, opened fire after pulling up outside the Oasis Palm resort and began shooting in the hotel zone.
The incident, which took place on Tuesday (7 December), came after Mexico deployed 1,500 National Guardsman to protect resorts after they became plagued by violence.
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Reports suggest that there were about 20 shots fired with Quintana Roo State Attorney General Óscar Montes de Oca revealing that there were five suspects who fired the shots into the air.
Montes de Oca also explained how the attackers abandoned the three jet skis they were on, changed their clothes and left.
Zayne Jones, from Midvale, was with his wife and children at the hotel pool on the beach when the shots were fired. He told KUTV: "I ran to the balcony to tell them to get down and get to a corridor and get cover. There was panic at the resort, people running and yelling.
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"Luckily nobody got hurt, but it could have gone a different way. Just not a good feeling having your kids out here."
US couple Andy Guyrich and Kerry Arms spoke about what they experienced, saying: "We just had to hit the deck.
"There was a delayed reaction for about maybe five seconds, then everybody started scrambling and screaming and crying and running."
This incident is the latest in a string of similar attacks at popular tourist spots in Mexico.
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Last month two suspected gunmen were killed after storming the resort of Puerto Morelos, just south of Cancun.
The drug dealers killed had apparently arrived at the beach in front of the Azul Beach Resort and the Hyatt Ziva Riviera Cancun earlier in the day, claiming it was now their territory.
At the time, Oscar Montes de Oca told the Radio Formula station: "About 15 people arrived on the beach to assassinate two men who had showed up saying they were the new dealers in the area."
Montes de Oca's office said earlier 'there was a clash between rival groups of drug dealers on a beach' near the hotels. Several cartels are fighting for the area's lucrative retail drug trade, including the Jalisco cartel and a gang allied with the Gulf cartel.
Featured Image Credit: Inspector Nocturno Cancun/FacebookTopics: News
