Boy, 12, killed on Cancún beach after gunmen on jet skis opened fire on rival drug dealers

A 12-year-old boy was shot and killed after gunmen riding jet skis opened fire on a rival drug dealers on a beach in Cancún, Mexico.

The child, who was identified as Santiago, was with his family sitting on a chair at Caracol Beach next to the Riu Cancún when he was struck by multiple stray bullets on Sunday.

Santiago was treated on the scene by paramedics and rushed to an area hospital, where he later died.

The Quintana Roo State Attorney General's Office said the assailants were targeting rival over a dispute of drug sales.

'We will not rest until we clarify this tragic incident and ensure that those responsible pay for their actions,' the Quintana Roo Department of Public Security said.

Local outlets reported that the boy and his family were originally from Mexico City and resided in the municipality of Benito Juárez.

'They went to spend a Sunday at the beach, because that child loved the beach. It is sad that these things happen,' a friend of the family told El Universal newspaper.

Territorial disputes between drug dealers have cost the lives of several tourists in the resorts along Mexico's Caribbean coast in recent years.

In 2022, two Canadians were killed in Playa del Carmen, south of Cancún, apparently because of debts between international drug and weapons trafficking gangs.

In November 2021, several assassins marched across the Hyatt Ziva Riviera in Puerto Morelos, south of Cancún, and executed two drug dealers before they fled in speedboats. 

An October 2021 shooting claimed the lives of 25-year-old Anjali Ryot, a resident of San Jose, California, and 35-year-old Jennifer Henzold, of Germany, after gunmen opened fired as they chased a rival drug dealer near a Tulum bar.

In June 2021, a 30-year-old Kentucky residents was shot and wounded and two workers were shot dead at a Cancún beach gift shop. Two suspects fled in two jet skis.