Playa del Carmen Mexico: Five killed in shootout at music festival including Canadian, American

chicagotribune.com reported gunfire broke out in a crowded beachfront nightclub throbbing with electronic music before dawn Monday, causing five deaths and setting off a bloody stampede by screaming concertgoers at an international festival in this Caribbean resort. At least one person died in the crush to escape and some of the 15 people wounded or injured were hurt in the rush out, authorities said.

Officials released a list of the dead, who included one Canadian, one American, two Mexicans and one Italian.

Canada’s Global Affairs Department identified its dead citizen as Kirk J. Wilson of Toronto.

Neil Forester, a friend, said Wilson was a longtime bouncer and was working security at the festival to lend a hand to its Canadian organizers. “He was just a genuine, one-of-a-kind guy,” Forester said. He said Wilson was 49 and was married with two children.

The U.S. Embassy confirmed that one of those killed was a U.S. citizen, and the Quintana Roo state prosecutor’s office identified her as Alejandra Villanueva Ibarra. The office said she died in the crush to escape the shooting. Read Article