Two 17-year-old students shot dead in Cuernavaca, Mexico — Mexico News Daily

In Cuernavaca, the capital of the Mexican state of Morelos, two 17-year-old students at a preparatory school affiliated with the Autonomous University of the State of Morelos (UAEM) were shot dead on Saturday evening. Another teenager was seriously injured, Mexico News Daily reports.

Shooting after celebration

According to the publication, the teenagers had gathered on a street in the Chula Vista neighborhood after a birthday celebration. Attackers arrived on motorcycles and opened indiscriminate fire on the group.

The deceased students were identified as Gael and Cristian. They attended the Antonio L. Mora del Castillo preparatory school, which is affiliated with UAEM. After the shots were fired, local residents called emergency services. Officials from the Morelos state prosecutor's office cordoned off the attack site, collected ballistic evidence and launched an investigation to determine the motive.

More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.

Protest outside prosecutor's office

Following this attack, the number of students killed in the state of Morelos since the beginning of the year reached six. They include 21-year-old Spanish exchange student Claudia Tacoronte Aguilera, who was stabbed to death on September 12. Kimberly Ramos Beltrán and Carol Gómez Toledo were also killed in March, while Michelle Itzayana Fuentes was killed in June. All of them studied at UAEM.

The university expressed condolences to the families of the victims, condemned the violence and called for the safety of the university community to be ensured and for justice to be served. On Sunday, UAEM students, members of the new center-left Somos party and local residents held a protest outside the headquarters of the state prosecutor's office. They demanded results from the investigations and greater transparency in cases involving the murders and disappearances of female students.

Morelos Attorney General Fernando Blumenkron Escobar said there had been some progress in the investigations. The prosecutor's office said it would pursue all lines of inquiry to identify those responsible.