Wierd scene coming into Rocky Point today.

[Roberto]

There is a guy in Ajo that does gun storage.

 

[ADR]

Mass shooting or shooting outside a grocery store, while traumatic events to those nearby, isn't even close to the same situation as being stuck in the middle of a war zone.

Tell that to those killed in malls, outside grocery stores, kids schools, etc. How exactly is what you saw worse than that?
How about the 2 bombs that went off Yesterday and Today in Russia, where dozens of innocent lives were lost? How about that mall a few months ago in Kenya where over 70 people died?
I assume you still think you have it rougher than they do? You have no idea what it is to be in a war zone. If you don't like Mexico or are afraid, you get to leave.

 

[ADR]

Sorry, Todd. Not always the case:

• Spring Break, several years ago. College student doing back flips off the bar at Pithaya. Broke his neck and died (yes, alcohol related).
• An old couple many years ago. We were staying at the Best Western and had just talked with them, really nice folks (not drunk). Got into their Suburban and headed up the street to La Curva for dinner. Crossing the main street right by Reggies, a local (he was drunk) in a pickup ran the stop sign and broadsided them at about 50 mph. The Suburban rolled five times, killing both of them instantly. The sound of that accident, crunching metal, and screeching still lingers in my mind, as well as the sight of them dead.
• 5 years ago (maybe?) American guy swimming just off the beach on the Mirador (not drunk). Run over by a panga pulling a banana boat. The prop sliced open his head and neck. He bled out on the beach and died, there was nothing anybody could do to save him.
• Few years back, odd morning thunderstorm rolled through as we were preparing to launch from the harbor. Local struck by lightning and killed (not drunk).
• Also a few years ago, early spring. Mexican fishing boat with 8 gringos catches fire (not drunk). We see the smoke from the distance and take off towards them. All of them in the water. Saved them all, including the 400 lb.+ guy that we had a hell of a time getting on the boat. A few minor burns, some broken ribs on some of the guys. Could have been a lot worse.
• 3 years ago, forum member heading down south of Ajo (not drunk). Pick up truck in opposite lane has sleepy driver, comes into their lane and head-ons them. The wife later dies after months of being in a coma.
• Similar story involving a Suburban (doctor from Tucson and his wife, if I remember correctly), small pickup heading south (young driver with other young passengers) past the shrine head-ons them coming around the corner before the bridge. I believe 5 or 6 people died in that accident from both vehicles. You can still see the shrine of laid out white sticks on the ground in that location.
• Last year, coming across Dead Cow Highway between Maricopa and Gila Bend. Truck in front of us (coming home from Mexico) veers off the road, tries to recover, rolls several times, ejecting the driver and his dog, catches fire and then explodes (not drunk). We were able to get the driver away from the truck before he literally became road pizza. Administered first aid until police/paramedics arrived and the Lifeflight helicopter came. He was lucky, he was in extremely bad shape, but the MCSO investigator told me the next day that he would live.

Some might say you are bad luck to be around?

 

[ADR]

I bought Despicable Me 2 the other day and haven't laughed so hard in ages.

And it cost him only 30 pesos for the DVD !

 

[tequilatodd]

Some might say you are bad luck to be around?

Who.....Me?

 

[Stuart]

Some might say you are bad luck to be around?

You go to Mexico for as long and as many times as I have, you see a few things. Lucky and unlucky! Plus, having been involved with this forum for so many years, good and bad things always get posted (and endlessly beat to death) here -- in case you haven't noticed. Ask the guys we fished outta the sea if I'm lucky to be around!

 

[mondone]

Sounds like the kiss of death to me, stay away please.

Sent from my HTC Glacier using Tapatalk 2

 

[jerry]

Tell that to those killed in malls, outside grocery stores, kids schools, etc. How exactly is what you saw worse than that?
How about the 2 bombs that went off Yesterday and Today in Russia, where dozens of innocent lives were lost? How about that mall a few months ago in Kenya where over 70 people died?
I assume you still think you have it rougher than they do? You have no idea what it is to be in a war zone. If you don't like Mexico or are afraid, you get to leave.

adr just chill bro....he was shot at not drinking shots like you

 

[Estero]

An interesting read on the relationship between Traffickers and the CIA. SPOOKY. http://www.esquire.com/features/pariah-gary-webb-0998

 

[Mexico Joe]

Tell that to those killed in malls, outside grocery stores, kids schools, etc. How exactly is what you saw worse than that?
How about the 2 bombs that went off Yesterday and Today in Russia, where dozens of innocent lives were lost? How about that mall a few months ago in Kenya where over 70 people died?
I assume you still think you have it rougher than they do? You have no idea what it is to be in a war zone. If you don't like Mexico or are afraid, you get to leave.

Easy BRO! This isn't DESERT RACING, you can't NERF someone out of the way because you don't like what they said. Why would you try and discredit someone that was in the middle of this? Were you there? Then how could you possibly understand where Canuck is coming from?

 

[Mexico Joe]

An interesting read on the relationship between Traffickers and the CIA. SPOOKY. http://www.esquire.com/features/pariah-gary-webb-0998

This is exactly what I've been talking about for 43 pages. Ask "FREE WAY RICK ROSS" about this. No, I'm not talking about the rapper. SMH

 

[HolaAmigos]

I am friend of an owner at Bella Sirena. I got a personal tour of Bella Sirena today and thought you might like a report of what I found.

Villa 8 is still a federal crime zone and is protected by local police. You cannot enter into the villa from the front or back but you can walk by it and look inside from 20 feet away. Besides Villa 8, here is the damage to the resort:

The front gate was smashed by a Cartel SUV on Dec 18, and is under repair. There are a few bullet holes outside the front gate to the left of pedestrian gate as you walk through. The general consensus is this is the gray truck shown in the news reports was the only car to enter the resort that morning and was shot many times. The vehicle made it from the front gate to Villa 8, and eventually lost all of its oil in an oil slick from the front gate to Villa 8. I believe this as failed attempt to rescue and remove the cartel boss. There are many stories but the general consensus is that cartel boss died that day at Bella Sirena.

There are very few bullet holes, except on Villa 8 you can see in all of the photos. Here is a good public site showing the photos if you have not seen them: http://www.azcentral.com/photo/27250 . Apparently the Federales used a few 5th story condos for snipers and had a crew on the ground with machine guns along with a high caliber machine gun at the front gate (and of course the 2 blackhawk helicopters). There are about a dozen bullet holes on the ground floor of the A building centered in two areas. There are a few bullet holes on the 5th floor of the A building. There are no visible bullet holes in the B, C, D, and E buildings. All of the bullet holes except for Villa 8 have been repaired via stucco, and will be repainted soon.

There are no bullet holes in any of the 20 villas, except for Villa 8 and 5. There was no visible damage to Villa 7 or 9 which are right next to Villa 8, like 5 feet away. Villa 5 has a few bullet holes in the back of the villa.

I must confess, I was expecting to find more damage and was quite surprised. Let me know if you have any questions, I can try to answer them (if they are reasonable that is). Like others have reported, driving around town was pretty normal - except parts of Benito Juarez and Calle 13 are roped off for construction.

 

[mis2810]

Tell that to those killed in malls, outside grocery stores, kids schools, etc. How exactly is what you saw worse than that?
How about the 2 bombs that went off Yesterday and Today in Russia, where dozens of innocent lives were lost? How about that mall a few months ago in Kenya where over 70 people died?
I assume you still think you have it rougher than they do? You have no idea what it is to be in a war zone. If you don't like Mexico or are afraid, you get to leave.

I think I'm with ADR on this one. Can you imagine the trauma to a child trapped in a classroom? In mall? Or not knowing if another bomb is going to go off right under your feet as you're running away? Nevertheless, I'm sure December 18th was very scary.

 

[Eric]

I am friend of an owner at Bella Sirena. I got a personal tour of Bella Sirena today and thought you might like a report of what I found.

Villa 8 is still a federal crime zone and is protected by local police. You cannot enter into the villa from the front or back but you can walk by it and look inside from 20 feet away. Besides Villa 8, here is the damage to the resort:

The front gate was smashed by a Cartel SUV on Dec 18, and is under repair. There are a few bullet holes outside the front gate to the left of pedestrian gate as you walk through. The general consensus is this is the gray truck shown in the news reports was the only car to enter the resort that morning and was shot many times. The vehicle made it from the front gate to Villa 8, and eventually lost all of its oil in an oil slick from the front gate to Villa 8. I believe this as failed attempt to rescue and remove the cartel boss. There are many stories but the general consensus is that cartel boss died that day at Bella Sirena.

There are very few bullet holes, except on Villa 8 you can see in all of the photos. Here is a good public site showing the photos if you have not seen them: http://www.azcentral.com/photo/27250 . Apparently the Federales used a few 5th story condos for snipers and had a crew on the ground with machine guns along with a high caliber machine gun at the front gate (and of course the 2 blackhawk helicopters). There are about a dozen bullet holes on the ground floor of the A building centered in two areas. There are a few bullet holes on the 5th floor of the A building. There are no visible bullet holes in the B, C, D, and E buildings. All of the bullet holes except for Villa 8 have been repaired via stucco, and will be repainted soon.

There are no bullet holes in any of the 20 villas, except for Villa 8 and 5. There was no visible damage to Villa 7 or 9 which are right next to Villa 8, like 5 feet away. Villa 5 has a few bullet holes in the back of the villa.

I must confess, I was expecting to find more damage and was quite surprised. Let me know if you have any questions, I can try to answer them (if they are reasonable that is). Like others have reported, driving around town was pretty normal - except parts of Benito Juarez and Calle 13 are roped off for construction.

 

[Estero]

This is exactly what I've been talking about for 43 pages. Ask "FREE WAY RICK ROSS" about this. No, I'm not talking about the rapper. SMH

 

[Rick S]

You have no idea what it is to be in a war zone. If you don't like Mexico or are afraid, you get to leave.

Yes, he does have an idea of what a war zone is like....and I do too. We were both in RP on the 18th, and it was definitely a war zone for 4-5 hours.

 

[Rick S]

HolaAmigos,

Did you notice the bullet marks on the front building? It had bullet holes in it all the way up to the 5th floor. That must be bldg A. Looks like the spray went over the main gates.

 

[TICO-T]

I am friend of an owner at Bella Sirena. I got a personal tour of Bella Sirena today and thought you might like a report of what I found.

Villa 8 is still a federal crime zone and is protected by local police. You cannot enter into the villa from the front or back but you can walk by it and look inside from 20 feet away. Besides Villa 8, here is the damage to the resort:

The front gate was smashed by a Cartel SUV on Dec 18, and is under repair. There are a few bullet holes outside the front gate to the left of pedestrian gate as you walk through. The general consensus is this is the gray truck shown in the news reports was the only car to enter the resort that morning and was shot many times. The vehicle made it from the front gate to Villa 8, and eventually lost all of its oil in an oil slick from the front gate to Villa 8. I believe this as failed attempt to rescue and remove the cartel boss. There are many stories but the general consensus is that cartel boss died that day at Bella Sirena.

There are very few bullet holes, except on Villa 8 you can see in all of the photos. Here is a good public site showing the photos if you have not seen them: http://www.azcentral.com/photo/27250 . Apparently the Federales used a few 5th story condos for snipers and had a crew on the ground with machine guns along with a high caliber machine gun at the front gate (and of course the 2 blackhawk helicopters). There are about a dozen bullet holes on the ground floor of the A building centered in two areas. There are a few bullet holes on the 5th floor of the A building. There are no visible bullet holes in the B, C, D, and E buildings. All of the bullet holes except for Villa 8 have been repaired via stucco, and will be repainted soon.

There are no bullet holes in any of the 20 villas, except for Villa 8 and 5. There was no visible damage to Villa 7 or 9 which are right next to Villa 8, like 5 feet away. Villa 5 has a few bullet holes in the back of the villa.

I must confess, I was expecting to find more damage and was quite surprised. Let me know if you have any questions, I can try to answer them (if they are reasonable that is). Like others have reported, driving around town was pretty normal - except parts of Benito Juarez and Calle 13 are roped off for construction.

I am friend of an owner at Bella Sirena. I got a personal tour of Bella Sirena today and thought you might like a report of what I found.

Villa 8 is still a federal crime zone and is protected by local police. You cannot enter into the villa from the front or back but you can walk by it and look inside from 20 feet away. Besides Villa 8, here is the damage to the resort:

The front gate was smashed by a Cartel SUV on Dec 18, and is under repair. There are a few bullet holes outside the front gate to the left of pedestrian gate as you walk through. The general consensus is this is the gray truck shown in the news reports was the only car to enter the resort that morning and was shot many times. The vehicle made it from the front gate to Villa 8, and eventually lost all of its oil in an oil slick from the front gate to Villa 8. I believe this as failed attempt to rescue and remove the cartel boss. There are many stories but the general consensus is that cartel boss died that day at Bella Sirena.

There are very few bullet holes, except on Villa 8 you can see in all of the photos. Here is a good public site showing the photos if you have not seen them: http://www.azcentral.com/photo/27250 . Apparently the Federales used a few 5th story condos for snipers and had a crew on the ground with machine guns along with a high caliber machine gun at the front gate (and of course the 2 blackhawk helicopters). There are about a dozen bullet holes on the ground floor of the A building centered in two areas. There are a few bullet holes on the 5th floor of the A building. There are no visible bullet holes in the B, C, D, and E buildings. All of the bullet holes except for Villa 8 have been repaired via stucco, and will be repainted soon.

There are no bullet holes in any of the 20 villas, except for Villa 8 and 5. There was no visible damage to Villa 7 or 9 which are right next to Villa 8, like 5 feet away. Villa 5 has a few bullet holes in the back of the villa.

I must confess, I was expecting to find more damage and was quite surprised. Let me know if you have any questions, I can try to answer them (if they are reasonable that is). Like others have reported, driving around town was pretty normal - except parts of Benito Juarez and Calle 13 are roped off for construction.

Great information! Thank you!

 

[HolaAmigos]

The A building has bullet holes on the main floor, or the stucco below the main floor, across from Villa 8. There are 2 spots of bullet holes on the stucco probably made by a strafing cartel AK 47. There are 2 bullet holes on the 5th floor, at the location of the condo where a Federal sniper was located. There were no bullet holes on floors 2,3,4 or floors 6,7,8 that I could see.

The fact that there were less than 20 bullet holes across from Villa 8 (on building A), and literally 100s of bullets holes on Villa 8 seems to indicate the Federales totally dominated the firefight. This is also supported by the fact that no Federales died, but many cartel members died on that day. I was just expecting more damage around the complex, and it is not to be found.

I have heard so many stories in the 1.5 weeks on what happened at Bella Sirena that are not supported by my observations today. I don't say this to downplay the seriousness of the event - I am just reporting what I saw. I will be back there tomorrow and I will try to take some pictures to post.

Attached is a map of Bella Sirena I found on the internet, Villa 8 is the villa pointing right at the letters "AA" which indicate the A building. The A building is the 8 story building that is closest to Las Palmas and the Sea.

 

[Eric]

I am friend of an owner at Bella Sirena. I got a personal tour of Bella Sirena today and thought you might like a report of what I found.

Villa 8 is still a federal crime zone and is protected by local police. You cannot enter into the villa from the front or back but you can walk by it and look inside from 20 feet away. Besides Villa 8, here is the damage to the resort:

The front gate was smashed by a Cartel SUV on Dec 18, and is under repair. There are a few bullet holes outside the front gate to the left of pedestrian gate as you walk through. The general consensus is this is the gray truck shown in the news reports was the only car to enter the resort that morning and was shot many times. The vehicle made it from the front gate to Villa 8, and eventually lost all of its oil in an oil slick from the front gate to Villa 8. I believe this as failed attempt to rescue and remove the cartel boss. There are many stories but the general consensus is that cartel boss died that day at Bella Sirena.

There are very few bullet holes, except on Villa 8 you can see in all of the photos. Here is a good public site showing the photos if you have not seen them: http://www.azcentral.com/photo/27250 . Apparently the Federales used a few 5th story condos for snipers and had a crew on the ground with machine guns along with a high caliber machine gun at the front gate (and of course the 2 blackhawk helicopters). There are about a dozen bullet holes on the ground floor of the A building centered in two areas. There are a few bullet holes on the 5th floor of the A building. There are no visible bullet holes in the B, C, D, and E buildings. All of the bullet holes except for Villa 8 have been repaired via stucco, and will be repainted soon.

There are no bullet holes in any of the 20 villas, except for Villa 8 and 5. There was no visible damage to Villa 7 or 9 which are right next to Villa 8, like 5 feet away. Villa 5 has a few bullet holes in the back of the villa.

I must confess, I was expecting to find more damage and was quite surprised. Let me know if you have any questions, I can try to answer them (if they are reasonable that is). Like others have reported, driving around town was pretty normal - except parts of Benito Juarez and Calle 13 are roped off for construction.

I agree I also expected to see a lot more damage as well. I walked thru Bella Sirena the day it happened and was quite surprised myself ( you could enter from the beach if you looked like you belonged). There are a ton of tourists in RP right now for Christmas & New Years and every time I drive by Bella so many curious people are looking at the resort. They have already repaired the damage infront of the Las Palomas round a bout. The beaches & restaurants are as packed as I have seen them for a December in quite a while...They have sold a ton of tickets & are expecting 400 tourists at Wrecked at the Reef tomorrow night for New Years...I think I will ring in the New Year at one of the other bars in town ....