Gunmen open fire on soccer field in Mexico, killing 11 and wounding 12

Gunmen opened fire on a soccer field in central Mexico on Sunday, killing at least 11 people and wounding 12, authorities said.

Salamanca Mayor César Prieto said in a statement posted on social platforms that the gunmen arrived at the end of a soccer match.

Ten people died at the scene and one died later in a hospital. The mayor said a woman and a child were among those injured in the “regrettable and cowardly” attack.

Prieto said the attack was part of a “criminal wave” in the city and appealed to President Claudia Sheinbaum asking for help to control the violence.

The Guanajuato state Prosecutor’s Office said it was investigating and coordinating with federal authorities to reinforce security in the area.

Four bags containing human remains were also found in the same town on Saturday night.

Guanajuato had Mexico highest homicide total last year. Much of the violence in the state is related to the conflict between the Santa Rosa de Lima gang and the Jalisco New Generation Cartelone of the most powerful in the Latin American nation. The Jalisco cartel is one of several that have been designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the Trump administration.

“Unfortunately there are criminal groups that try to subdue the authorities, something they are not going to achieve,” said the mayor.

Overall, Mexico’s government says the country’s homicide rate in 2025 was the lowest since 2016, at 17.5 murders per 100,000 residents, although analysts cautioned that the numbers may not fully reflect the country’s violence.

Violence in Guanajuato in recent months

Last August, prosecutors said dismembered human remains found in an abandoned house in the state of Guanajuato belong to a total of 32 victims.

In July, a local Mexican government official was shot dead while attending an amateur basketball game in Guanajuato.

The previous month, 11 people were delicate and about 20 more people were injured in a shooting at a neighborhood party in Irapuato.

In May, 17 bodies were found by investigators in an abandoned house in the same city.

That same month, authorities said gunmen opened fire and killed seven peopleincluding children, in Guanajuato, and the agents found two banners with messages alluding to the Santa Rosa de Lima gang.