8 men, 3 women killed inside Juarez home

Prosecutors in Mexico’s northern Chihuahua state are investigating the killing of 11 people inside a home in Ciudad Juarez across the border from El Paso, Texas.

The state’s attorney’s office said in a statement Friday that the victims were eight men and three women. The bodies were found inside a home on Oasis de Egipto street #1201, in the Colonia Praderas del Oasis. The neighborhood is located in South Juarez, west of the airport.

Investigators were working to determine the victims’ identities and the motive in the killings, but speculated that it could be the result of a dispute between criminal groups.

El Diario de Juarez reports the victims were strangled with a tourniquet and no weapons were used. A state official told El Diario it appeared the group was summoned to the location, then murdered when they arrived. The same official said the killings could be related to an ongoing dispute between rival gangs La Linea and Los Aztecas.

Juarez Mayor Armando Cabada told ABC-7’s news partners at Channel 44 that some containers with meth were placed on some of the bodies as if to send a message. Cabada said the fight between La Linea and Los Aztecas is concerning, as is the uptick in violence the city has seen. He said federal and state police are leading the investigation.

El Diario reports there have been more than 700 homicides in Juarez this year. 177 homicides were recorded just last month.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CONTRIBUTED TO THIS ARTICLE