New shooting kills four in Mexican resort city

A new shooting attack in Mexico has left four people, including a police officer, dead in the country’s resort city of Cancun.

Gunmen opened fire on the on the state prosecutors’ office in the city in broad daylight on Tuesday, prompting police to fire back and kill three of the gunmen, according to Governor Carlos Joaquin Gonzalez. He said five other suspects were taken into custody.

The gunfight caused panic among people and prompted hundreds to flee a shopping center in the area.

“The only thing that (the shootings) reveal is that we are going in the right direction and we won’t lower our guard,” said Governor Gonzalez. He pleaded for calm and said the federal government was sending more security forces to back local authorities in the town.

“Cancun residents and our visitors can go about their lives,” Gonzalez said. “I repeat: The three levels of government protect society.”

On Monday, anther shooting attack occurred in the nearby beach town of Playa del Carmen, killing five people, including three foreigners.

Two consecutive days of shooting prompted the United States’ Consulate in Merida to issue a warning and to call on US citizens to exercise vigilance in the state.

Authorities did not clarify if the two attack were linked, but suggested that they were carried out as part of a battle by drug gangs against rival groups.