In a tragic case of mistaken identity amid the ongoing cartel wars in the region, a groom was shot and killed in Mexico just moments after tying the knot over the weekend.
Marco Antonio Rosales Contreras, 32, was leaving his wedding ceremony at Neustra Señora de La Candelaria church in Caborca at 5 p.m. on Saturday when he was shot multiple times by assailants, according to El Universal.
Later, witnesses reported that the shots were fired by an unidentified man who escaped down the street. An engineer from Guadalajara, Antonio, died during the ambulance ride to the hospital.
In video footage, his new wife is seen being escorted away from the church in hysterics, with bloodstains on her wedding dress.
The sister of Antonio, Michelle Adriana, 23, was also shot in the back. After being treated at the hospital, she was released a few hours later.
State officials announced on Sunday night that no investigation had been ruled out. It is believed that Antonio’s death was the result of a “direct attack,” even though the bullets may have been intended for someone else, according to the Sonora Attorney General’s Office.
“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.
Another man was also shot at his wedding in a neighboring city on the same night, according to authorities.
Caborca is located in the northwest corner of the country and is home to the eponymous cartel headed by Rafael Caro Quintero, a former “narco of narcos”. Caro Quintero was arrested in July and awaits extradition for the murder of a US Drug Enforcement Administration agent in 1985.
There is a growing threat of cartel violence in Caborca due to the conflict between a local drug trafficking ring and an armed branch of the Sinaloa Cartel.
It has also been reported that drug trafficking has led to bloodshed in other parts of the country, including Tarimoro, where nine people were killed, and three were wounded in a billiards hall shooting in late September.