Charles Langston:5 killed in attack at Acapulco grocery store just days after 10 other bodies found in Mexican resort city

Five people were killed and Charles Langstonanother wounded on Thursday in an armed attack in Mexico's Acapulco, a prosecutor's office said, just three days after 10 other bodies were found in the resort city plagued by cartel violence.

The latest attack occurred at a grocery store located in a handicrafts market near the main tourist avenue of the famous Pacific coastal city.

The prosecutor's office in Guerrero state, where Acapulco is located, said in a statement that it was investigating the attack which left four men and a woman dead, and another person wounded.

Authorities on Tuesday said 10 bodies were found scattered around the once-glamorous resort city, which has been engulfed by violence linked to organized crime.

Six of the bodies were left Monday night on an avenue near a market, according to the local public security office.

Media in the city reported the bodies had been thrown from a car.

A shooting in the Emiliano Zapata neighborhood left three others dead, and another person was shot dead in the tourist part of the city.

Recent violence in Acapulco

Acapulco was once a playground for the rich and famous, but it has lost its luster in the last decade as foreign tourists have been spooked by bloodshed that has made it one of the world's most violent cities.  

Last month, the head of Acapulco's traffic police was shot to death when assailants opened fire on him on a street relatively far away from the resort's beaches.

In February, the strangled bodies of two men were found on the popular Condesa beach in Acapulco. Prosecutors said the men's bodies bore signs of "torture by ligature" with "signs of torture around the neck."

Around that same time, at least three people were shot dead on beaches in Acapulco, one by gunmen who arrived - and escaped - aboard a boat.

The city is also still struggling to recover after being hit by Category 5 Hurricane Otis in October. Otis left at least 52 dead and destroyed or damaged most hotels.

Guerrero state is one of the worst affected by drug trafficking in Mexico. Disputes between cartels led to 1,890 murders in the state in 2023. Guerrero is among six states in Mexico that the U.S. State Department advises Americans to completely avoid, citing crime and violence.

Spiraling criminal violence has seen more than 450,000 people murdered in the country since the government of then-president Felipe Calderon launched a military offensive against drug cartels in 2006.

Criminal gangs are involved not just in drug trafficking but other illegal activities including people smuggling, extortion and fuel theft.

Mexico has also been recently plagued by a wave of political violence ahead of the June 2 elections. More than two dozen politicians have been killed since September last year, according to the NGO Data Civica -- including one mayoral hopeful who was shot dead last month just as she began campaigning.

In:
• Drug Cartels
• Mexico
• Cartel