MEXICO CITY, MEXICO – A group of armed intruders stormed a hospital in Cuernavaca, the capital of Morelos, Mexico, on Tuesday, killing a patient who was under treatment for a gunshot wound, according to local authorities.
The Morelos state prosecutors stated that the horrifying incident took place in the early hours of Tuesday in a hospital located just south of Mexico City. The assailants entered an intensive care unit, shooting and killing the patient before fleeing the scene. The victim, a 23-year-old male, had been admitted to the hospital the previous Saturday due to a different gunshot incident.
While such horrific incidents are rare in Mexican hospitals, there are records of similar events in the past. Just a day before Tuesday’s incident, reports emerged of an unsuccessful assassination attempt on a patient in a hospital in the northern Sinaloa state. The perpetrator had reportedly disguised himself as a doctor and tried to kill the patient using an injection.
In 2023, hitmen invaded a hospital in Culiacán, Sinaloa, intending to murder a patient. In this incident, a violent gunfight broke out with other gunmen already inside the hospital, leading to the death of a doctor not involved in the feud and three others.
It’s not unheard of for Mexican gangs to target rivals admitted to hospitals or being transported in ambulances. Such negligent acts led to the death of two paramedics in the northern state of Zacatecas in 2021 while they were in the process of transporting a patient.