A groom has been shot dead in Mexico just moments after tying the knot over the weekend – in a tragic case of mistaken identity amid the region’s ongoing cartel wars.
Marco Antonio Rosales Contreras, 32, was leaving his wedding ceremony at the Neustra Señora de La Candelaria church in Caborca around 5 p.m. local time on Saturday when he was hit by multiple bullets, El Universal reported.
Witnesses later said the shots came from a lone, unidentified man running down the street. Antonio, a computer engineer from Guadalajara, was pronounced dead on the way to the hospital.
Video footage shows his new wife being hysterically led away from the church, her white wedding dress stained with blood.
The happy couple just hours before the deadly shooting. Twitter
The bloodied bride of Marco Antonio Rosales Contreras leaves the scene of the shooting in tears.Twitter
Antonio’s sister Michelle Adriana, 23, was also shot in the back. She was treated at the hospital and released hours later.
State officials announced Sunday night that no line of investigation had been ruled out. According to the Sonora Attorney General, Antonio’s murder was a “direct attack,” though they believe the bullets may have been intended for someone else.
“Investigations indicate that the attack on Marco Antonio was directed at another individual who was getting married in another nearby town at the same time,” the statement said.
The groom is taken to hospital after the deadly shooting, Twitter
According to the authorities, another man was also shot dead at his wedding in a neighboring town that same night.
Located in the northwest corner of the country, Caborca is home to an eponymous cartel run by veteran “narco of narcos” Rafael Caro Quintero. Caro Quintero was arrested in July and awaits extradition for the 1985 murder of a US Drug Enforcement Administration agent.
Cartel violence is a growing problem in Caborca as the local drug trafficking ring wages war against an armed branch of the Sinaloa cartel.
The drug trade has also caused bloodshed in other parts of the country: in late September, The Post reported on a grisly shooting at a pool hall in Tarimoro that killed nine people and wounded at least three.