Gunmen open fire at soccer field in Mexico, killing 11 and wounding 12

Gunmen opened fire at a soccer field in central Mexico on Sunday, killing at least 11 people and wounding 12, authorities said.

Salamanca Mayor Cesar Prieto said in a statement posted to social platforms that the gunmen arrived at the end of a soccer match.

Ten people died at the scene and one died later at a hospital. The mayor said a woman and a child were among the wounded in the "regrettable and cowardly" attack.

Prieto said the attack was part of a "crime wave" in the city and appealed to President Claudia Sheinbaum for help to control the violence.

The Guanajuato state prosecutor's office said it was investigating and coordinating with federal authorities to reinforce security in the area.

Members of the National Guard stand at the crime scene where at least 11 people were killed and 12 more wounded during an armed attack at a soccer field in Salamanca, Guanajuato state, Mexico, on January 25, 2026.  Mario Armas /AFP via Getty Images

Guanajuato had Mexico's highest homicide total last year. Much of the violence in the state is linked to conflict between the Santa Rosa de Lima gang and the Jalisco New Generation cartel, one of the most powerful in the Latin American nation. The Jalisco cartel is one of several that has been designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the Trump administration.

"Unfortunately, there are criminal groups trying to subjugate authorities, something they are not going to achieve," the mayor said.

Overall, Mexico's government says the country's 2025 murder rate was the lowest since 2016 at 17.5 murders per 100,000 inhabitants, although analysts cautioned that the numbers may not fully reflect the country's violence.

Violence in Guanajuato in recent months

Last August, prosecutors said dismembered human remains found in an abandoned house in Guanajuato state belong to a total of 32 victims.

In July, a local Mexican government official was shot dead while attending an amateur basketball game in Guanajuato.

The month before that, 11 people were killed and about 20 others injured in a shooting targeting a neighborhood party in Irapuato.

In May, 17 bodies were found by investigators in an abandoned house in the same city.

That same month, officials said gunmen opened fire and killed seven people, including children, in Guanajuato, and officers found two banners with messages alluding to the Santa Rosa de Lima gang.

In:

• Drug Cartels
• Mexico
• Mass Shooting
• Cartel