Armed men storm a hospital in central Mexico, killing a patient

MEXICO CITY — Armed men burst into a hospital in central Mexico on Tuesday and killed a patient who was being treated for a previous gunshot wound, authorities said.

Prosecutors in the state of Morelos, just south of Mexico City, said the attack occurred early Tuesday in the city of Cuernavaca, the state's capital.

The killers made their way into an intensive care unit and shot the patient to death. They fled after the attack. The victim was a 23-year-old man who had been admitted Saturday for a gunshot wound.

Killings inside hospitals are infrequent but not unknown in Mexico.

A day earlier, local media reported that an assailant disguised as a doctor had tried unsuccessfully to kill a patient with an injection at a hospital in the northern state of Sinaloa.

In 2023, hitmen stormed a hospital in the city of Culiacán, Sinaloa in a bid to kill a patient. But they clashed with other gunmen already inside, sparking a gun battle that left four people dead, including a doctor apparently caught in the crossfire.

Gangs in Mexico have been known to try to finish off wounded rivals by attacks in hospitals or ambulances. In 2021, two paramedics were murdered while transporting a patient in the violence-plagued northern state of Zacatecas.