5 Kids Killed in 5 Days in Acapulco

The body of 4-year-old girl who had been shot in the chest was discovered yesterday, the fifth child killed in less than a week as drug violence rages on in Acapulco. The girl was found in a car next to a woman who’d been shot several times; police didn’t offer a motive, notes the AP. The killing follows the deaths of boys ages 2 and 6, who were killed at their home along with an elderly woman who tried to shield them after gunmen opened fire.

Some 200 shells were found at the site, in a poor neighborhood that has been at the center of violence. Separately, two 15-year-olds were murdered the same day. The killings add to more than 35,000 drug war deaths since 2006, including several more bodies found this week. One bruised corpse was accompanied by a note signed “Knights Templar,” a group claiming in recent banners to have replaced the cartel known as La Familia. (More Mexico stories.)