Six killed in Acapulco shootout

Acapulco: A gunbattle erupted on the main coast boulevard in the heart of this Pacific resort on Wednesday afternoon, killing six people, including a mother and her 8-year-old child. None of the victims appeared to be tourists.

One federal police officer died in a shootout with gunmen, but at least three of the dead seemed to have been bystanders caught in the crossfire. Five other people suffered wounds and about a dozen vehicles were riddled with bullets.

Federal police said they detained a 26 year old and said he apparently worked for Edgar Valdez Villarreal, a US-born drug capo who has been engaged in a bloody battle in the Acapulco area with former colleagues in the Beltran-Leyva drug cartel.

Police said the gunbattle started when "armed men travelling in several vehicles opened fire on the occupants of another vehicle," killing both men.

It was unclear why the men were targeted. Drug gangs have staged shootouts in Acapulco before, but seldom in broad daylight amid heavy traffic, and never with such a toll among bystanders.

Police tried to intercept the gunmen's vehicles.

"In their attempt to escape, the assailants opened fire on several private vehicles, killing three people, including a child," federal police said in a statement.

While police officers may have tried to return fire, the area was littered with hundreds of shell casings from AK-47 assault rifles — a weapon used almost exclusively by Mexico's drug cartels.

The battle caused a huge traffic jam on the busy Miguel Aleman Boulevard, after some drivers crashed into each other and others tried to cross the palm-lined median strip in a desperate attempt to flee the shooting.

"An 8-year-old girl died when she was being transferred in an ambulance, and her mother also died," city police said in a statement.