Mexico investigates soccer field attack that killed at least 11 people

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Beer cans, candles and blood-stained clothing littered a soccer field in central Mexico on Monday, a day after gunmen killed 11 people and injured 12 others during a gathering after an amateur match.

While authorities investigate the killings, Guanajuato state Gov. Libia Dennise García said Monday that “security in the region has been reinforced” with state and federal forces. She said on social media that the state “will act decisively to protect families, restore peace to the community and bring those responsible to justice.”

The massacre took place in the municipality of Salamanca, in the state with the highest number of homicides in the country. The region has been wracked by intense violence linked to the territorial dispute between the local Santa Rosa de Lima cartel — a violent group primarily dedicated to fuel theft and trafficking — and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, CJNG.

According to a federal official familiar with the case who requested anonymity because it is an ongoing investigation, initial evidence suggests that some of the deceased people were linked to a private security company associated with the CJNG. The official added that prior to the attack, messages attributed to the Santa Rosa cartel were found mentioning their dispute with Jalisco.

The attack comes a few months before the start of the FIFA World Cup, which Mexico is co-hosting with Canada and the United States, and as the government of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum not only seeks to highlight its progress in security, but is also promoting local soccer and its fan base as the “powerful tool for integral development” of the population, according to Mexican Interior Secretary Rosa Icela Rodríguez.

Salamanca Mayor César Prieto — the only official to provide early details on Sunday — described the massacre as part of a “wave of violence” and appealed to Sheinbaum for help.

Nancy Angélica Canjura, researcher for Causa Común — a nongovernmental organization that analyzes data on insecurity — said that regardless of whether or not those killed were linked to criminal activity, the fact that the attack occurred in a public place and during a festive activity has a large social impact because it stays in the public consciousness that “you can't go out by choice … you shouldn't stay in public spaces.”

Canjura also mentioned that during 2025, Guanajuato was the scene of attacks at funerals, parties and other public activities and that all “dilutes the social fabric, limits life in the community” and allows criminal groups to have more power.

Sheinbaum didn't address the events in Salamanca during her news briefing on Monday, deferring to the local prosecutor’s office, which has only confirmed an ongoing investigation.

Security analyst David Saucedo, who was based in Guanajuato for many years, suggests the attack was likely by the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel.

According to Saucedo, the group may have wanted to provoke a federal military surge into territory currently held by its rivals, the Jalisco Cartel — a move he says “undermines the image of security Mexico hopes to project on the eve of the World Cup.”

The Jalisco cartel is the fastest-growing criminal organization in Mexico. It was declared a terrorist organization by the Trump administration, which also targeted the Santa Rosa de Lima cartel.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

Crime scene tape surrounds a soccer field the day after gunmen opened fire, killing and wounding people, in Salamanca, Mexico, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Mario Armas)

National Guards patrol near a soccer field the day after gunmen opened fire, killing and wounding people, in Salamanca, Mexico, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Mario Armas)

People's items left behind cover the ground at a soccer field the day after gunmen opened fire, killing and wounding people, in Salamanca, Mexico, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Mario Armas)

Crime scene tape surrounds a soccer field the day after gunmen opened fire, killing and wounding people, in Salamanca, Mexico, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Mario Armas)

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A former Canadian Olympic snowboarder pleaded not guilty to running a billion-dollar drug trafficking ring and orchestrating multiple killings, as one of the FBI's top fugitives made his first U.S. court appearance Monday since he was arrested in Mexico last week and flown to California.

U.S. authorities say Ryan Wedding, who competed in a single event for his home country in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, had been hiding in Mexico for more than a decade. He was added to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list last March when authorities offered a $15 million reward for information leading to his arrest and conviction.

Authorities say Wedding moved as much as 60 tons of cocaine between Colombia, Mexico, Canada and Southern California and believe he was working under the protection of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of Mexico’s most powerful drug rings. His drug trafficking group was the largest supplier of cocaine to Canada, according to a 2024 indictment.

Mexican officials said he turned himself in at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City last week and was flown to Southern California after a yearlong effort by authorities in the United States, Mexico, Canada, Colombia and the Dominican Republic to arrest him.

When speaking to reporters Monday outside the federal court in Santa Ana, southeast of Los Angeles, Wedding's defense attorney Anthony Colombo disputed that his client had turned himself in in Mexico and said he was living in Mexico, not hiding out there.

“He was arrested,” Colombo said after the brief hearing, offering no further details. “He did not surrender.”

Colombo said his client was in “good spirits" but added that “this has been a whirlwind for Mr. Wedding."

Federal prosecutors declined to comment after the hearing. Wedding was scheduled to be back in court Feb. 11 and a trial date was set for Mar. 24.

Wedding arrived in court wearing a tan jail jumpsuit with his ankles chained. He smiled briefly, then clasped his hands and leaned back in his chair before reviewing papers with his attorney. When asked by U.S. Magistrate John D. Early if he read the indictments filed against him, Wedding answered, “I’ve read them both, yes.”

The judge ordered him held in custody, saying he could not immediately find conditions that would ensure public safety or Wedding’s appearance in court. He said he could consider bond if Wedding seeks it later.

Mexico has increasingly sent detained cartel members to the U.S. as the country attempts to offset mounting threats by U.S. President Donald Trump, who said last month U.S. forces “will now start hitting land” south of the border to target drug trafficking rings.

Wedding was indicted in 2024 on federal charges of running a criminal enterprise, murder, conspiring to distribute cocaine and other crimes. U.S. authorities allege in court papers that Wedding’s group obtained cocaine from Colombia and worked with Mexican cartels to move drugs by boat and plane to Mexico and then into the U.S. using semitrucks. The group stored cocaine in Southern California before sending it to Canada and other U.S. states, according to the indictment.

The murder charges accuse Wedding of directing the 2023 killings of two members of a Canadian family in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment, and for ordering a killing over a drug debt in 2024. Last year, Wedding was indicted on new charges of orchestrating the killing of a witness in Colombia to help him avoid extradition to the U.S.

Wedding was previously convicted in the U.S. of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and sentenced to prison in 2010. Online records show he was released from Bureau of Prisons custody in 2011.

In Canada, Wedding faces separate drug charges dating back to 2015.

Defense attorney Anthony Colombo speaks about his client Ryan Wedding, a former Canadian Olympic snowboarder accused of running a vast cocaine smuggling ring and related killings, outside the Ronald Reagan Federal Courthouse, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026, in Santa Ana, Calif. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

FILE - An image of former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding, who is a fugitive and been charged with allegedly running and participating in a transnational drug trafficking operation, is displayed on a video monitor along with bricks of cocaine, foreground, during a news conference at the FBI offices in Los Angeles, Oct. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)

This still photo taken from video and provided by the FBI shows Ryan Wedding a former Canadian Olympic snowboarder facing charges related to drug trafficking and the killing of a federal witness is taken off a plane at Ontario International Airport in Ontario, Calif. on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026. (FBI via AP)