The Nayarit State Attorney General’s office issued an official statement Wednesday evening describing the shootout between rival groups of gunmen in the municipality of Ruiz that resulted in the deaths of 28 men and the arrest of 4 wounded men.
Two of the survivors were reported to be citizens of Guatemala. :
PROCURADURÍA GENERAL DE JUSTICIA PGJE (Attorney General’s Office)
Tepic Nayarit; a 25 de Mayo 2011.
The State Investigative Agency (AEI) has released the following preliminary data on the events that occurred today in the town of Ruiz, Nayarit, on Federal Highway 15 at a crossroads in the municipal seat.
After the report received by a citizen complaint stating that a group of armed persons on board 3 vehicles moments before had abducted a male resident in the village of Peñas, Municipality of Tuxpan, Nayarit, who then fled south on the Federal Highway, members of the various law enforcement agencies immediately went to that northern area north of the state.
Subsequently a confrontation was reported at the crossroads of Ruiz, among several armed men on board different vehicles including those who were involved in the events in the village of Peñas.
Military officials, Marines, Federal Preventive Police, the State Preventive Police, State Investigative Agency and the Ruiz Municipal Police arrived at the scene, finding the place abandoned with 10 vehicles, 28 male persons dead and 4 injured, also multiple heavy caliber weapons.
Staff of Forensic Services and criminal investigators from the PGJE accompanied prosecutors and investigative agents of the Homicide Division at the scene to begin the removal of bodies and initiate investigations.
The A.E.I. will continue releasing information in accordance with the progress of investigations.
