Photo: Froedtert

By THE PULSE NEWS MEXICO STAFF

In what constituted Mexico’s largest mass murder of the year so far, an estimated 17 people were taken hostage during a wake at a funeral home in San José de Gracia, Michoacán, a town on the border with Jalisco, and shot dead in the outside street.

The mass execution, which was videotaped by witnesses, was conducted in public, with the victims standing with their hands behind their necks as they were shot.

The bodies later disappeared from the streets and a gunfight between various armed groups proceeded.

As of Monday, March 1, neither the federal government nor state authorities had confirmed the number of deaths, but unofficial accounts put the casualties at 17 dead.

The events occurred in an area where the Jalisco Nueva Generation Cartel (CJNG) holds control of the territory, key in its communication with Jalisco.

Presumably, the victims belonged to the opposition United Cartels group.