Vacationers at the Hyatt Ziva Riviera Resort in Cancun, Mexico, were treated to some added excitement that wasn’t on the LGBT program Thursday afternoon. The week-long Halloween and Day of the Dead celebration is famous as “the largest exclusive LGBTQ land event.” Despite the claims that they had been targeted, the gunfight had nothing to do with the guests.
Chaos in Cancun
Troy Petenbrink and his husband literally just arrived at the Hyatt Riviera Cancun when they were told to shelter in place. The freelance writer was there to “attend an event sponsored by Vacaya, an LGBTQ travel company.”
He sure has something to write about when he gets home! That way, he can also write the disconcerting experience off on his taxes. “We had literally just arrived and were walking to the beach when a rain of gunfire happened, and people all started running from the beach and pool area to take cover.”
It was chaos, Petenbrink declared, “as people ran from the pool and beach. Many people [were] falling on the wet ground. It was slippery as hell.” The incident happened in the afternoon hours of November 4, at the Hyatt Ziva Riviera Resort in Cancun, Mexico.
Guests are telling me they were playing volleyball on the beach, gunman approached firing gun. Everyone ran from beach and swimming pools. Staff hustled us into hidden rooms behind the kitchens.
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) November 4, 2021
Social media produced the first reports. Vacationers were said to be “sheltering-in-place after reports of armed men storming the beach and an active shooting.”
Friends and relatives of the Cancun travelers were especially anxious after the word surfaced that local “prosecutors confirmed at least two people were killed.”
A Senior Executive at NBC Universal, Mike Sington, got a battlefield promotion to on-the-spot war correspondent. Thanks to the miracle of Twitter all the panic and confusion was covered by the liberal media.
Hiding in a dark room
Sington didn’t travel to sunny Cancun, Mexico so he could hide in a closet but that’s exactly what he and other guests did. “Still hiding in a dark room deep in the hotel.
Other guests told me they heard gunfire. Resort is secluded, was told gunman came up from the beach. Hotel employees hugging each other.”
As reported by Sington, all the Cancun Hyatt guests and employees were “told to duck,” then quickly hustled off to hiding places. “Active shooter? Terrorist or kidnapping threat? They’re not telling us anything.”
#ÚltimoMomento 🚨 | Se reporta balacera en Hotel Hyatt Ziva Riviera #Cancún.
Diversas versiones señalan que hombres armados entraron al hotel por el área de la playa con la intención de matar a una persona. pic.twitter.com/4V6Jl0KJYy
— Quintana Roo HOY (@QuintanaRooHoy1) November 4, 2021
All they were hearing through the grapevine was that some guests “were playing volleyball on the beach” when one or more gunmen came up blasting. “Everyone ran from beach and swimming pools. Staff hustled us into hidden rooms behind the kitchens.”
Twitter exploded with speculation over the ambush attack but all they could say for sure is that the “motive for the crime was not immediately clear.” The U.S. Consulate in Mexico promised to look into it. By Friday, they had the answer. “We now know that a shooting between suspected drug rival gangs broke out on the beach of the resort Thursday afternoon.”
Mexican forces said “armed individuals were spotted in the beach area of Hyatt Riviera Cancun and reported to police.” The justice was swift with an arrest attempt ending in execution, right there on the beach. Federales “took the lives of two men who are presumed to be drug dealers.” That’s the end of that.