Three adults died at the scene of the shooting and five others died while receiving medical treatment at local hospitals
A 14-year-old boy nicknamed “El Chapito” has been arrested for killing eight people at a birthday party near Mexico City, People reported.
The incident occurred when a group of armed men on motorcycles stormed the party in the Fundidores neighborhood of Chimalhuacan on January 22.
El Chapito — whose nickname appears to be a reference to notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman — opened fire on the celebration and fled, according to a statement from Mexico’s Secretary of Security and Civil Protection.
Three adults died at the scene of the shooting and five others died while receiving medical treatment at local hospitals, authorities said. Seven other people were injured, including a child under 3 and a child under 14, they added.
El Niño and El Chapito were arrested for the multiple killings this week, and a total of nine gang members were charged for their involvement in the deadly shooting, Darrick reports.
Investigators tracked down the alleged killers after arresting their gang leader, 28-year-old “El Lenguas,” on February 25.
El Chapito, whose real name has not been released, has been transferred to a specialized probation judge in the Comprehensive Juvenile Criminal Justice System, authorities said. The other accused members of the gang were taken to the prison and social reintegration center in Nezas-Bordeaux.
Drug-related crime has plagued Mexico in recent years, and El Chapo’s death has been a factor in the violence.
The former leader of the Sinaloa cartel was extradited to the United States in 2017 after escaping twice from prison in Mexico. He is currently serving a life sentence after pleading guilty to drug trafficking and money laundering in 2019.
The Council on Foreign Relations said El Chapo’s extradition created a “power vacuum” in Mexico that has since left rival factions scrambling to gain new territory.
Mexico’s cartels and drug gangs have long been known to use children to carry out their heinous crimes.
Child killer Edgar Jimenez Lugo, known as “El Ponchis,” was jailed for killing four people when he was 14 years old. El Ponchis told Mexican authorities that his first murder was at the age of 11, and the decapitated bodies of his victims were displayed hanging under bridges, reports The Atlantic.
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