Blue Parrot nightlclub shooting in Cancun: Deadly attack on LGBT travelers to Mexico

Every gay tourist in Mexico sees the Blue Parrot Club as a must place to go. It’s packed every night of th week, and was the scene of a deadly attack.

Every gay tourist in Mexico sees the Blue Parrot Club as a must place to go. It’s packed every night of th week, and was the scene of a deadly attack. The US holiday Martin Luther King Weekend is a specially busy travel time for Cancun. On behalf of the International Nightlife Association, we strongly condemn the BPM Festival shooting occurred at Blue Parrot club, a popular Gay club in Cancun (Mexico).


A gunman killed at least five people and wounded nine others at a nightclub in the Caribbean coast resort of Playa del Carmen during a music festival, officials said Monday.

Two Canadians, an Italian and a Colombian are among the dead, authorities said. CBS News partner network UNO TV reported that, according to Quintana Roo state prosecutor Miguel รngel Pech, there were no Americans known to be among the victims of the attack.

Pech said that three of the dead were part of the security detail at the 10-day BPM electronic music festival. The fourth and fifth victims have not been identified.

Pech said a lone gunman apparently tried to enter the nightclub, but was denied access because he had a gun.

The gunman began to exchange fire with another person inside, he said, and festival security personnel tried to stop the shooting and came under fire.

Pech said it was not a terrorist attack, and said three people had been detained nearby, but it was unclear if they had been involved in the shooting.
He said 20 bullet casings from three different pistols had been found at the scene, and said it was unclear if the security detail had been armed or fired any of the weapons.

The Blue Parrot nightclub where the shooting occurred was hosting an event that was part of the BPM electronic music festival. The event where the shooting occured was reportedly the closing event of the festival.

The shooting apparently caused a rush of people heading for the exits at the beach-side club, and the lone female victim was apparently killed during the stampede.

Pech said 15 people were injured, included one Mexican woman who was seriously injured. He said eight of the injured -including two U.S. citizens and one Canadian -had been treated for less serious injuries at local hospitals and released.

He said three people had been detained nearby, but it was unclear if they had been involved in the shooting.

Rodolfo Del Angel, director of police in the state of Quintana Roo, told the Milenio TV station that he shooting was the result of โ€œa disagreement between people insideโ€ the nightclub and said security guards had come under fire when they tried to contain the dispute.

The BPM Festival posted a statement saying four people had been killed and 12 injured in an attack that involved โ€œa lone shooter.โ€

BPM wrote that โ€œthe violence began on 12th street in front of the club and three members of the BPM security team were among those whose lives were lost while trying to protect patrons inside the venue.โ€

Playa del Carmen has largely been spared the violence that has hit other parts of Mexico.

Canadaโ€™s Global Affairs office confirmed the death of one Canadian and said it was investigating reports of another. Italyโ€™s Foreign Ministry confirmed one its citizens died.

German dance music producer Sidney Charles tweeted that he had been DJing when the shooting began. Other music producers also tweeted to let fans know they were safe, and express sadness and anger over the attack.

At the same time, we express our heartfelt condolences to the mexican people, the families and friends of the victims in this tragic moment as they seek to recover from this deeply disturbing tragedy. We also give all our support to our Association member in Mexico (ANIDICE) and all its members and we encourage them to keep on fighting against any form of violence in nightlife since nightlife industry rejects violence. President of ANIDICE, Mr Ismael Rivera Cruces is vicepresident of the International Nightlife Association for Latin America.

Once more, after the attacks on Bataclan in Paris, Club Pulse in Orlando and Club Reina in Istanbul the nightlife sector has been hit again with violence involving firearms, so we are shocked and deeply saddened. We stand here in moral indignation and are, at the same time, filled with a huge sense of powerlessness but we will not stop working on improving safety measures in order to make nightclubs safer as we have been doing these last four years.



Mr. Joaquim Boadas de Quintana, General Secretary of the International Nightlife Association said this morning: ” Nightlife industry has been recently too much linked to violence which is unfair since we reject any form of violence in our establishments. So, we want to launch again an international appeal to all governments worldwide asking for help in order to collaborate with our sector to implement more security measures in nightlife clubs in as many countries as possible. Violence involving firearms can happen anywhere and it’s a global threat that requires a strong and coordinated action from the international community so, it is in this regard that prevention becomes relevant but, of course, we can’t do it alone”.

Our association, as an Affiliate member of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), is working with its support on a prevention plan in order to make nightlife venues safer in order to protect partygoers since without safety there’s no tourism. Events like these seriously damage the image and the prestige of the territory where they happen, which is unfair but real. So, the International Nightlife Association, has contacted all goverments members of the United Nations World Tourism Organization asking them for their ooperation in order to improve safety measures in nightlife venues in the benefit of tourism and citizens all over the world

About the author

Avatar of Juergen T Steinmetz

Juergen T Steinmetz

Juergen Thomas Steinmetz has continuously worked in the travel and tourism industry since he was a teenager in Germany (1977).
He founded eTurboNews in 1999 as the first online newsletter for the global travel tourism industry.

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