American tourist shot in the leg in resort town on Mexico's Caribbean coast

A U.S. tourist was shot in the leg by unidentified assailants in a resort town on Mexico's Caribbean coast, prosecutors in the coastal state of Quintana Roo said Tuesday.

They said the shooting occurred in the low-key town of Puerto Morelos, just south of Cancun.

Prosecutors said the American was approached by several suspects near midnight Monday and they shot him in the leg. The motive remains under investigation.

The wounded man was taken to a hospital in Cancun for treatment, and his injury was judged to be not life-threatening.

"Authorities are on the hunt for those responsible for this incident," prosecutors said.

The U.S. State Department issued a travel alert earlier this month warning travelers to "exercise increased caution," especially after dark, at Mexico's Caribbean beach resorts like Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum, which have been plagued by drug gang violence in the past.

The warning came in the wake of the kidnapping of four Americans in Mexico earlier this month. The State Department has posted a "Level 4: Do Not Travel" advisory for Tamaulipas, the Mexican state the Americans were in when they were kidnapped. 

There have been a series of brazen acts of violence along the Caribbean coast, the crown jewel of Mexico's tourism industry.

In 2022, two Canadians were killed in Playa del Carmen, apparently because of debts between international drug and weapons trafficking gangs.

In 2021, farther south in the laid-back destination of Tulum, two tourists - one a California travel blogger born in India and the other German - were killed when they apparently were caught in the crossfire of a gunfight between rival drug dealers.

Last January, two other Canadians were killed and one injured in a shooting at a resort near Cancun.

And in March 2022, a British resident of Playa del Carmen was shot and killed in broad daylight while traveling with his daughter in his car.

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• Shooting
• Mexico