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'Mariachi musician' gunmen kill three in Mexico City

Eyewitness recount the scene after the 'mariachi' fled

Gunmen dressed as traditional mariachi musicians have killed five people and wounded eight in Mexico City, sending onlookers fleeing.

They opened fire at a road crossing on the edge of the Plaza Garibaldi, a major tourist attraction packed with mariachi bars, police said.

The gunmen then fled from the scene on motorbikes.

Plaza Garibaldi borders the notorious Tepito district, home to the violent La Unión drugs gang.

Two of those killed had convictions for robbery, AFP news agency reports, quoting a local official.

News imageReuters Mariachi musicians observe a crime scene hours after unknown assailants attacked people with rifles and pistols at an intersection on the edge of the tourist Plaza Garibaldi in Mexico City, Mexico September 15, 2018Reuters
Musicians stood around looking at the crime scene afterwards

"You come completely relaxed and to have a good time and then suddenly there are gunshots," one tourist in the area told Reuters news agency.

"You don't know if you're going to get back home. Now, you're not going to trust mariachis because the gunmen were dressed as mariachis."

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News imageReuters Police patrol the area of Mexico City where gunmen dressed as mariachi musicians killed three people (15 Sept)Reuters
There was a heavy police presence around the Plaza Garibaldi in the wake of the shooting

Tepito has suffered a wave of violence over the last month after the gang's presumed leader, Roberto Moyado Esparza - or El Betito - was arrested.

The number of killings in the city has surged since 2014.

Nationwide, more than 200,000 people have been killed or have disappeared since December 2006, when Mexico's government declared war on organised crime.

Mexico experienced its most violent year in 2017 with more than 25,000 murders, official figures suggest. It is the highest annual tally since modern records began. Organised crime accounted for nearly three-quarters of those murders.