Gunmen massacred 14 people, most of them teenagers, and injured a dozen others during a birthday party in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
Like most killings here, the motives remain unclear: Most of those interviewed said the teens had nothing to do with drugs. What’s troubling, though, is that the latest bloodbath marks a watershed moment for this city, as the victims – all students who grew up together – were not gathered at a bar or a rehab center but at a private home.
The state attorney general’s office confirmed that at least 10 of the 14 dead were teens, ranging from 13 to 19. Two were adult men, ages 35 and 42, and two were unidentified but believed to be teens. Fourteen others, students and most of them teens, were wounded and remained hospitalized Sunday night.
A neighbor who gave his name only as Hector was quoted by The Associated Press as having said the students must have been attacked by mistake.
It was the worst mass attack in Juárez since gunmen killed 18 young people at a drug rehabilitation center in September. More than 2,000 people were killed in the city last year, giving it one of the highest murder rates in the world.
