(NEW YORK POST) – A groom was gunned down in Mexico just moments after tying the knot over the weekend — in a tragic case of mistaken identity amid the region’s ongoing cartel wars.
Marco Antonio Rosales Contreras, 32, was leaving his wedding ceremony at Neustra Señora de La Candelaria church in Caborca around 5 p.m. local time on Saturday when he was struck by multiple bullets, El Universal reported.
Witnesses later said the shots came from a single unidentified man who ran away down the street. Antonio, a computer engineer from Guadalajara, was pronounced dead en route to the hospital.
Video footage shows his new wife being escorted away from the church in hysterics, her white wedding dress stained with blood.
Antonio’s sister, Michelle Adriana, 23, was also shot in the back. She was treated at the hospital and released hours later.
On Sunday night, state officials announced that no line of investigation had been ruled out. According to the Sonora Attorney General’s Office, Antonio’s killing was a “direct attack,” though they believe the bullets may have been intended for someone else.
“Investigations indicate that the attack against Marco Antonio was directed towards another individual who was also getting married at the same time in a different nearby city,” the statement read.
According to authorities, another man was also shot at his wedding in a neighboring city on the same night.
Located in the country’s northwest corner, Caborca is home to an eponymous cartel helmed by veteran “narco of narcos” Rafael Caro Quintero. Caro Quintero was arrested in July, and awaits extradition for the 1985 murder of a US Drug Enforcement Administration agent.
Cartel violence is a growing concern in Caborca, as the local drug-trafficking ring wages war against an armed branch of the Sinaloa Cartel.
Drug trafficking has also led to bloodshed in other parts of the country: In late September, The Post reported on a grisly billiards hall shooting in Tarimoro that killed nine and wounded at least three.
