California travel blogger among 2 killed in Mexico's Tulum

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A San Jose, California woman born in India was one of two foreign tourists killed in apparent crossfire of a drug-gang shootout in Mexico’s Caribbean coast resort of Tulum.

Authorities in Quintana Roo, state where Tulum, Playa del Carmen and Cancun are located, said one of de women was Anjali Ryot.

An Instagram account under same name showed a post of Ryot lounging and smiling on a seaside pier in Tulum two days ago. It listed her as a travel blogger from Himachal, India, living in California. A linked Facebook p said she lived in San Jose.

A German woman who was killed has been identified as Jennifer Henzold, though hometown was immediately available for her.

Three or foreign tourists were wounded in shooting late Wednesday at a street-side eatery that has some outdoor tables, right off Tulum’s main strip. y included two German men and a Dutch woman.

gunfight apparently broke out between two groups that operate street-level drug sales in area, according to prosecutors. tourists were apparently dining at restaurant and may have been caught in crossfire.

shooting occurred on Tulum's ‘Mini-Quinta,’ a reference to Playa del Carmen's larger, flashier bar and restaurant zone kwn as Quinta Avenida, or Fifth Avenue.

On Friday, civic group Citizens Observatorio of Tulum posted photos of hand-lettered signs that appeared at a local market in Tulum, signed by a drug gang kwn as Los Pelones, roughly “ Shaved Hes.”

sign said shooting “was a warning, so you can see we mean business," ding “you eir get in line or we are going to continue shutting places down like Mini Quinta,” an apparent warning to pay extortion demands for protection money.

“We are in control here,” sign ded. gang, part of Gulf Cartel, has long extorted protection money from bars and night clubs in Cancun, but has w apparently extended operations furr south to Playa del Carmen and Tulum. gang is also fighting Jalisco Cartel and or groups for area's lucrative drug market.

killings threatened Tulum's reputation as a low-key carefree beach town without crowding and problems of Cancun.

After shooting, U.S. tourist James Graham said he h come to Tulum with idea of possibly buying a property re to rent out on AirBnB. “Right w, we are t so sure we're going to buy anything here,” Graham said.

“I think that what was surprising, is we figured that this of crime wouldn't necessarily be where main tourist areas are, just because it's such a big part of ecomy,” Graham said. “You would think that you would be very careful to make sure that you kw tourists feel very safe coming here.”

But re have been signs situation was out of control months ago. In June, two men were shot to death on beach in Tulum and a third was wounded.

And in nearby Playa del Carmen, police st a massive raid Thursday on beach town's restaurant-lined Quinta Avenida, detaining 26 suspects — most apparently for drug sales — after a city policewoman was shot to death and locked in trunk of a car last week. Prosecutors said Friday y have arrested a suspect in that killing.

Crime “has gone up a little with extortion, with drug sales to foreigners and Mexicans,” prosecutors office said in a statement about raid.

ministration of President Andrés Manuel López Obror has pinned its hopes on Tulum, where it has anunced plans to build an international airport and a stop for Maya train, which will run in a loop around Yucatan peninsula.