Mazatlán’s carnival marred by shooting in Plazuela Machado

One of the Machado's open air restaurants

The annual carnival in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, is billed as the third biggest party after Rio de Janeiro and New Orleans. Every year tens of thousands of revellers gather in the Pacific resort for five days of music and fun.

This year was no different, with stages lined from Olas Altas to Playa Norte. Other than the usual arrests for petty crime and public intoxication, everything was going well until early in the morning of Tuesday, March 4, when a brawl broke out at the corner of Sixto Osuna and Heriberto Frias in the Plazuela Machado in the city’s historic centre.  During the fight a young woman was shot three times and killed.

The attack occurred at 1:59 a.m., only minutes after the banda supergroup El Recodo finished playing at Olas Altas on the waterfront. The Plazuela Machado is a few blocks away, and the streets were filled with young partiers.

The victim, Azucena Pacheco, was reportedly about 30 years of age. Three other people in their early twenties were also wounded by gunfire and rushed to hospital.

The local Mexican press is reporting that there have been two arrests, though this has not been confirmed. There are also reports of two people being knifed in the area minute slater.

(TE Wilson is the author of Mezcalero, a Detective Sánchez novel.)