ACAPULCO, MEXICO (AP) -- Police have identified an alleged hit man arrested on suspicion of taking part in a gunbattle that left six people dead and five wounded during a raging attack on the main boulevard in Acapulco's tourist zone.
A federal police statement released early Thursday said Ernesto Antonio Rocha Reyes, 26, was carrying a high-powered assault rifle when authorities, searching for suspects after the attacks, caught him.
The statement said Reyes is an associate of Texas-born Edgar Valdez Villarreal, nicknamed "La Barbie," who federal authorities believe is battling Hector Beltran Leyva for control of the Beltran Leyva cartel.
A mother and her 8-year-old child, a taxi driver and a federal police officer were among the dead Wednesday.
At least three bystanders also died on the shootout, which occurred in broad daylight on the wide, palm-lined avenue, within sight of major hotels and the beach.
Drug gangs have staged shootouts in the city before, but seldom in broad daylight amid heavy traffic, and never with such a toll among uninvolved people.
Desperate motorists crashed their cars and apparently sought to drive over the median strip to escape the gunfire, which left at least a dozen vehicles riddled with bullet holes.
A mother and her 8-year-old child, a taxi driver and a federal police officer were among the dead, while two slain men may have been the targets of the gunmen who set off the carnage, authorities said.
Five more people suffered wounds, but there was no information on their condition.
Police said the gunbattle started when "armed men traveling in several vehicles opened fire on the occupants of another vehicle," killing both men. It was unclear why the men were targeted
A federal police statement released early Thursday said Ernesto Antonio Rocha Reyes, 26, was carrying a high-powered assault rifle when authorities, searching for suspects after the attacks, caught him.
The statement said Reyes is an associate of Texas-born Edgar Valdez Villarreal, nicknamed "La Barbie," who federal authorities believe is battling Hector Beltran Leyva for control of the Beltran Leyva cartel.
A mother and her 8-year-old child, a taxi driver and a federal police officer were among the dead Wednesday.
At least three bystanders also died on the shootout, which occurred in broad daylight on the wide, palm-lined avenue, within sight of major hotels and the beach.
Drug gangs have staged shootouts in the city before, but seldom in broad daylight amid heavy traffic, and never with such a toll among uninvolved people.
Desperate motorists crashed their cars and apparently sought to drive over the median strip to escape the gunfire, which left at least a dozen vehicles riddled with bullet holes.
A mother and her 8-year-old child, a taxi driver and a federal police officer were among the dead, while two slain men may have been the targets of the gunmen who set off the carnage, authorities said.
Five more people suffered wounds, but there was no information on their condition.
Police said the gunbattle started when "armed men traveling in several vehicles opened fire on the occupants of another vehicle," killing both men. It was unclear why the men were targeted