This is a developing story and will be updated.
Gunmen have stormed a water park in central Mexico and killed six adults and a child, unleashing panic among those present, local authorities said.
Police "arrived at the scene where they found... three dead women, three men and a seven-year-old minor, in addition to one person seriously wounded," said a statement from City Hall in Cortazar on Saturday, the municipality where the attack took place.
The gunmen arrived at the La Palma swimming resort at 4:30 pm local time (2230 GMT) "to perpetrate the attack," the statement said.
Attackers went directly toward a group of people and opened fire, then yanked out security cameras from the site before retreating, authorities said.
According to a video posted on local news site Debate Noticias, which was taken by an eye-witness at the scene, the victims had collapsed on the floor or on the chairs where they were sitting amid thick clouds of smoke — apparently from the gunshots.
The footage also shows people running for cover from the gunfire.
The website of TV Azteca, one of Mexico's main television networks, had a video from the scene showing panic-stricken adults and children still in swimwear — including pool floats — on the scene after the shooting.
Mexican soldiers and police aided by a helicopter were searching for the attackers.
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Violent state
The attack occurred on the last day of the spring school vacation period.
The resort, abutting a university campus, was swarmed by military and state police after the attack.
Guanajuato, an agricultural and industrial hub, has been Mexico’s most violent state for years.
The Jalisco New Generation drug cartel has been fighting with local criminal groups, including the Santa Rosa de Lima cartel, which is apparently backed by the Sinaloa cartel.
Mexico has registered more than 350,000 murders since the government controversially deployed the army to fight drug cartels in 2006, most of them blamed on criminal gangs.
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