MEXICO CITY (AP) — Two men were shot to death while visiting a graveyard during Mexico’s Day of the Dead holiday, prosecutors said Friday.
The two men were killed, and a third person wounded, in a shooting Thursday at a cemetery in the Mexico City suburb of Naucalpan.
Mexicans traditionally visit the tombs of their deceased relatives during the Nov. 1 – 2 holiday. The killers apparently used that tradition to wait for the victims.
There was no immediate official information on a motive in the attack or the identity of the victims. But local media reported that the victims were a businessman who provided bullet-proofing for cars, and his bodyguard.
On the Day of the Dead, families clean the tombs of their loved ones, decorate them with flowers, and sometimes eat, sing or sit quietly beside the graves.
This peaceful tradition also was marred by violence in northern Mexico on Wednesday.
Police in the northern border state of Sonora were attacked while driving between the towns of Santa Ana and Magdalena de Kino, 56 miles (89 kilometers) from the Arizona border, authorities said in a post on Facebook. The attackers left three assault rifles, a truck and smears of blood before fleeing to a mountain nearby.
Immediately following the attack, the mayor of Santa Ana evacuated the local school and postponed all Day of the Dead celebrations until further notice.
As tensions in the region rose, several other towns cancelled their traditional Day of the Dead celebrations.
Benjamin Hill, a town 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Santa Ana, cancelled a parade and altar-decorating ceremony on Tuesday afternoon, then called off all school buses heading north Wednesday.
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