Los Angeles woman, 44, is gunned down in crossfire between two drug gangs outside exclusive beach bar in Mexico’s upscale Tulum tourist spot

A Los Angeles woman watching the sunset at a beach club was killed in a crossfire between two drug gangs in Tulum, Mexico.

The woman, locally named Niko Honarbakhsh, was shot dead during the ordeal – and prosecutors in Quintana Roo insisted she was not linked to the drug deal.

Another man, who went by the nickname “Belize,” was also killed in the shooting just after 6:30 p.m. on Friday. The deceased had been at a beach club in the Tulum Hotel Zone, a coastal tourist strip full of luxury clubs and eateries.

Honarbakhsh, 44, lived in Cancun but was originally from California, according to ABC News. Local news site Riviera Maya News also identified her as ‘Niko H.’

The woman watched the sunset alone with her dogs at the beach club and was about to get up to pay when she was caught in the crossfire, witnesses said.

Bystanders, who say the shooting took place at the Mia Beach Club, said Honarbakhsh looked “so happy” with her pets, who were “chilling on the sand” all day.

A couple sitting behind her said they initially thought the gunshots were fireworks — and that everything happened so quickly they didn’t even have time to react.

Prosecutors denied local media reports that the two deceased were a couple, saying a photo of the Belizean man showed him with a completely different woman.

Belize shares a border with Mexico on the Caribbean coast. Tulum is located south of Cancun and Playa del Carmen, closer to Belize.

Prosecutors said the dead man had cocaine and pills in his possession when he was killed and was believed to be a dealer.

They said the suspects in the shooting had been identified and were being sought.

In their statement, the Attorney General states that “the female individual who unfortunately lost her life had no connection whatsoever with the deceased male, identified by the alias “Belize.”

“As for the man ‘Belize’, he is identified because of his likely participation in events that may amount to drug-related crimes in the form of drug trafficking, and because he was part of a criminal group that caused violence in the state.

‘At the time of the facts, the suspect had, among other things, transparent bags containing white powder with characteristic features of cocaine, transparent bags containing red and orange pills, and a transparent bag containing brown granulate powder.’

The fatal shooting on February 9 took place in the presence of shocked holidaymakers.

One person took to TripAdvisor to describe their distress after two people were murdered in front of their eyes. They said the ordeal took place at the Mia Beach Club.

The tourist, from Austin, Texas with the username Justin R, wrote on February 10: ‘Is Tulum no longer safe? 2 people murdered before my eyes.

‘My partner and I were enjoying the sunset on the beach at Mia Beach Club yesterday when suddenly a man with a gun started chasing another man and shooting at him as he ran into the middle of the crowd at the beach club.

‘A tourist on holiday with her two dogs, just a few meters away from us, was hit by several stray bullets and killed.

“The gunman had shot the man he was chasing once and that slowed him down so much that the gunman walked up to him and shot him in the back a few more times.

“The shooter simply ran north along the beach into the crowd. Security at the Mia had no idea what was going on, nor did they check on the two people shot.

‘It was other beach guests who did that. The people who worked there almost acted like it was no big deal, and didn’t give any of us instructions like get down, get off the beach… none of them got the police or reinforcements on the radio.”

In response to his comment, another tourist from New Jersey chimed in, saying he also witnessed the woman and man being shot.

The second TripAdvisor poster, with the username Nick C, read: “I was there with my girlfriend too. We sat behind the lady with the two assistance dogs.

‘The shooter ran right behind us. We’re lucky we didn’t get a stray bullet either. I thought I would have caught one before the lady did, as I was closer and (I thought) more in the line of fire than she was.

‘It’s really lucky that I came out unscathed. It all happened so quickly that at first we thought it was fireworks, until we saw the gunman running past us, shooting.

‘By then it was too late and I didn’t have time to react or get down.

“Prayers go out to the lady, that’s a very sad way to pass. She minded her own business and had fun alone with her dogs for hours. If I’m not mistaken, she was getting ready to pay and leave.

“You’re right, none of the workers did anything to warn us or help the injured. The lady was down for a few minutes before anyone even looked at her.

‘The man who was being chased stayed down for even longer and it was just a tourist who first went to look at him and then was left alone again.

‘This will definitely leave a sour taste in my mouth when I think about Tulum, it’s my second time here. I understand it can happen anywhere, but the police could certainly do more to keep these drug deals or gang rivalries to a minimum. “I don’t know exactly what the motive for the murder was, but you can only imagine.”

A third witness, who also posted on TripAdvisor, said they were leaving when the commotion started.

The poster, with the username Giandrea84, wrote: ‘I’m so sad to hear this. I was there all day and was about to leave when the shooting started.

‘I heard everything and saw some. I just ran out the other side, but there was so much confusion that no one knew what had really happened.

‘I remember the lady with two dogs. She looked so happy during the day and the dogs were chilling on the sand. When I read what happened to her, I felt incredibly sad. My thoughts are with the family.’

The Public Prosecution Service has not confirmed the location of the shooting. Mia Beach Club has been contacted by DailyMail.com for comment.

Foreign tourists have been killed in the past after being caught shooting by drug gangs in Mexico’s once quiet beach resort.

In 2021, two tourists – one a Californian travel blogger born in India and the other German – were killed in Tulum while eating at a restaurant. They apparently got caught in the crossfire of a shootout between rival drug dealers.

Anjali Ryot of San Jose was at the bar La Malquerida when she and 35-year-old Jennifer Henzold of Germany were trapped in the middle of a dispute between the attackers and a rival drug dealer.

Ryot was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics. Henzold was rushed to an area hospital, where she died.

Two German men, aged 26 and 25, and a 21-year-old woman from the Netherlands were also injured in the shooting.

Born in India, Ryot arrived in the popular Mexican resort just before her birthday; she would have turned 26 just days after the fatal shooting.

Just hours before the tragedy, she shared on her Instagram account a video of herself walking near a platform at the Cielo Maya hotel and resting in a hammock.

Ryot worked as a senior site reliability engineer at LinkedIn. She previously worked at Yahoo, where she worked for five years as a site reliability engineer and service technician.

Last year, the U.S. State Department issued a travel alert warning travelers to “practice heightened situational awareness,” especially after dark, in Mexico’s Caribbean beach resorts such as Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum.

In June 2023, two Californians, Abby Lutz, 28, and John Heathco, 40, were found unconscious in their hotel room at the $780-per-night five-star Rancho Pescadero near Cabo San Lucas. inhaling gas.

And in April last year, four people were found dead at an all-inclusive four-star beachfront hotel in Cancun’s Riviera Maya resort after a broad daylight shooting.

Police initially revealed that they had discovered three bodies near the Fiesta Americana Condesa Hotel, before confirming that a fourth corpse had been found in nearby bushes.

The shooting, the latest in a series of violent episodes in the Mexican resort, took place around 10 a.m. local time on Monday.