Juarez shooting stuns Mexicans (Updated)

The Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez has seen its fair share of violence in recent years but one incident over the weekend has shocked locals and Mexicans alike.

At least sixteen teens died when unidentified gunmen broke into a late night party and mowed down the revelers. "There is no logical explanation, a concrete reason for this event,” said Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz as he claimed that the victims were “good kids” without previous criminal records or known ties to drug gangs. (Update: On Tuesday Reyes said that a suspect had been arrested for his possible involvement in the shooting).

Investigators suspect that cartels may be behind the shooting after having found over 100 AK-47 bullet casings at the crime scene. Yet the possibility of a random act of violence has upset the already distraught families of the victims:

The father of one victim wept during a radio interview as he called upon his government to stop the killing that has shown no signs of abating in Juarez.

"It's not fair, President Calderon. Hear these cries. They're not from families that have problems with drugs, it's from a father whose heart has been torn out, whose son has been taken away this way," said Adrian Cadena, whose son Rodrigo was killed.

In the aftermath of the shooting Calderon vowed to create a broader security strategy designed to tackle the “complex problem” of violence in Ciudad Juarez. The authorities have had their hands full, however, and have been seemingly incapable of stemming the tide of violence in Mexico. (January was the bloodiest month during Calderon’s presidency with over 900 homicides).

Image- Al Jazeera English
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, Washington Post, CNN, Los Angeles Times, BBC News, AFP